Lucky Number 13
by EternityJustEnded
Summary: Jeb and his daughter Maximum are the only survivors from their village. With vengance on her heart, Maximum hunts down the men that ended her family. But will Max risk it all for a couple of stuborn friends? Full summary inside.
1. Unforgetable

**Full Summary: Jeb and his daughter Max are the only survivors from their village. It was burned down to ashes by the Saxons. Jeb has trained Max in the art of assassination ever since. During that time, the Saxons have retreated to a civilization land, also known as New York, to work for a company named Itex. Max will stop at nothing to put an end to the men that slaughtered her village, and maybe even Itex itself. But a certain group of friends help her realize, maybe daddy's orders don't need to be followed all the time.**

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><p>I was 6 years old when the tragedy struck. My parents were both missionaries. We traveled all over the world. I never liked their job, due to the fact that I would start to have friends when we had to leave. But at that time, we were in the country side of China. Thugs would roll through the villages, stealing and raping women as they went, but they had never thought to go this far before.<p>

My father and I had gone to collect herbs from the outer fields, while the rest of the village prepared for the feast. I remembered how exited I was, that I would get to play with my friends Juan Lan and Mei Na and all the villagers would be dancing and singing.

When my father and I returned however, we found the village aflame.

-Flashback-

_We rushed forward together, reaching our family's small tent. We saw my mother's body hovering protectively around Ari, my little brother. Their eyes were closed, and their skins were burned to the tissue. Both were dead._

_Father sunk to his knees and started sobbing, while I ran out of the tent and to Juan Lan's tent. Her body was covered in bruises and scars, and her eyes were open, staring at me with an expressionless gaze. I was choking on tears now as I ran across the road and peered into Mei Na's tent. There wasn't even a body there. There were only ashes._

_I sobbed and sprinted back to father, who had curled up next to mother and Ari. _

"_Daddy? What are we going to do?" I sobbed._

_Our mourning fest was interrupted with the sound of pots smashing against each other. Father stood up on one knee and covered my mouth with his hands. I looked at the flap of the tent and saw outlines of big bulky figures. _

"_Saxons…" father hissed._

"_Hmm?" I muttered._

"_Shhh…"he coaxed._

_I leaned against his arm and studied the figures movements. It seems like they were…loading something._

"_We have to run Max," father whispered._

"_Where Papa?" I asked._

"_Stay close," was all he said._

_I gripped the edge of his shirt and stood the same time he did. Together, we sprinted as fast as we could, straight through the crowd of big scary men. Grunts and shouts were swirling in the air and father swept me into his arms, going faster than any human could have ever gone._

_We were about 20 miles away from the village when father finally stopped. He sat me down and took my shoulders in his firm grip. He pushed me against the tree and looked into my eyes intensely._

"_Maximum, listen to me," he said seriously._

_I nodded slightly._

"_Our lives change now. Do not forget what you saw today, it will help you throughout your life," he said._

And our lives did change. It changed so dramatically, you wouldn't even believe the story if I told you.

**Review? Please? **

**-Shift.**


	2. Profiles

What do you guys think of the chapter lengths so far? Longer? And BTW, shoutouts to **Kallik of Gaillifrey **for being my first reviewer...ever. Thanks!

**DISCLAIMER!- I do not own Maximum Ride or it's characters, JP does. But I do own the plot. **

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><p><em><strong>~6 years later in a place called England~<strong>_

My practice dummy was practically torn to shreds. Sand was pouring out and landing in heaps by my feet. My ankle was still throbbing from the hard impact I made, and I was panting heavily. Aside from the sand spilling out, there were scars in the leather skin. I sighed and reached for the broom.

"Maximum!" father called.

I raced inside. Father never shouted my entire name unless it was important.

"What's wrong?" I said leaping over our couch.

"Max, it's time for a talk," father whispered.

I sat wordlessly across from him and crossed my legs, waiting.

"I'm not going to stall, so I'll just get straight to the point. 6 years ago our village and family were killed." he started.

I kept my face impassive. Just like how he taught me.

"The people responsible for our village's demise," he paused briefly "are called Saxon's."

I stay silent and keep eye contact, refusing to be the first to break it.

"I've trained you hard all these years so that one day, you could kill them all and take revenge." He said.

Memories of when I was 5 replayed through my head, where father and mother were teaching people that revenge isn't the way. I couldn't help but compare that father to the recent one before me. The father before, would never have his daughter risk her life to avenge a village, he'd tell her that forgiveness is the first step.

But things were different now.

Father often kept to himself, he burned all his bibles and practically abandoned his beliefs. He was often cruel and unforgiving during training sessions, and would never let me out of the house.

"The Saxons have been recruited into a company named Itex located in New York. It is your job to finish every. Single. One of them, are we clear?" he asked.

I wanted to. I wanted to kill them, each and every single one of them. But the things that your mother taught you, are burned into your brain. It doesn't help that one parent is nagging you to be like a saint while the other is telling you to brutally murder a bunch of people.

It didn't seem like he was giving much of a choice anyway. And like he said, I was trained for a reason. Why not put all this sweat and hard work to use?

"Yes." I replied.

_~6 more years later~_

**(A/N Max is 18 now)**

New York was different from the other states I've been in.

The taxi service was horrible and it was very noisy in the city.

When I _finally_ got a cab, I was grateful that it was a mute driver. My pockets vibrated and I pulled out my phone, flipping it open.

"Hello?" I said.

"_Maximum, you've arrived?" _fathers voice asked.

"Yes sir," I said robotically.

"_You're apartment is located in Morningside Heights. Room number 0139," _he said.

"Yes sir," I replied.

"_The documents on the Saxons will be faxed to your room when you check in, understood?" _he asked.

"Yes sir," I replied again.

I snapped my phone shut and slid it in my back pocket.

"Morningside Heights," I told the driver.

He nodded and continued driving.

**(Lines breaks are over-rated XD)**

As promised, the documents were waiting on the fax machine when I stepped foot into the apartment. I scanned the room, and shook my head at the amount of space I had. Father always did go overboard with things.

I sat with the 30 page packet on the couch and read through each and every single one.

_Name: Jeffrey Walker_

_Sex: Male_

_Age: 34_

_Height: 5 '9_

_Eye color: Dark brown_

_Hair color: Black_

_Race: 100% American_

_Occupation(s): Ex-scientist, Ex-Veterinarian_

_Family- Husband to Anne Walker, father of 2, 18 year old sons Iggy and Fang Walker, and father of newborn Angel Walker. _

_Side Notes- Fired from both jobs due to suspicion of mixing DNA samples and giving over doses of medicine. Working as a current C.E.O of local mall._

I studied his picture in the upper left hand corner of the document. I memorized the curve of his jaw line, the length of his nose, the amount of freckles, everything. Just like father trained me to do.

I flipped through the next few pages.

_Name: Marian Janssen_

_Sex: Female_

_Age: 33_

_Height 5 '7_

_Eye color: blue_

_Hair color: light brown_

_Race: ½ American, ½ Mexican_

_Occupation(s): Newest recruit to Itex_

_Family: Wife to Jack Janssen (deceased), mother of 18 year old daughters Monique and Ella Janssen, and 13 year old Zephyr Janssen._

_Side Notes: Her father started abusing her when their mother abandoned them. Trained in martial arts by foster family. Black belt in Tae Kwon Do and Kung Fu._

I smiled at this profile. She was the only female Saxon, and she was trained under low tolerance, just like me.

Killing her should be fun.

**Okay, so what do you think? And yes, please give me some advice for my writing skills so that I can supply you guys with better stories. **

**Review please? **

**Please?**

**Please?**

**Pretty please?**

**-Shift.**


	3. Introductions

**Sorry it's a short chapter. I really want to space out the plot line perfectly.**

**Kallik of Gallifrey: Yes. you got a shout out. You should get a grand prize for being my first viewer. So thank you for that. Stick around and this will not be your last. ;)**

**SO without further ado,**

**Here's the next chapter.**

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><p>After unpacking and stashing my weapons in easy to reach places, another packet was faxed in from father. The first page was a letter.<p>

_Maximum,_

_You are to report to Newberry High School for your senior year, which starts tomorrow. You should have noticed that all the Saxon's have a family of their own. All their eldest children go to this school. The first part of your job is to get close to their children and have them befriend you.__Familiarize yourself with the town, but do not get attached to anyone of anything. Your years of training will help you through our tougher opponents, for I assure you a very decent amount will fight back._

_Jeb Ride_

That's it?

No, 'good lucky honey' or 'knock 'em dead!'?

Well, theres father for ya.

I placed the letter gently on the side and flipped through the rest of the documents. It was a transfer document; apparently I'm transferring from Justice High. Father also went through the trouble of changing my name and creating an I.D for me.

_Name: Elizabeth Valentine Jacobs_

_Age: 18_

_Transfer from: Justice High_

_G.P.A history- Freshman-4.0_

_Softmore- 4.0 _

_Junior 4.0 _

_(ALL AP CLASSES)_

I didn't bother to read further, because father and I discussed the plans already. My name is no longer Maximum Ride, and I am no longer a daughter of Jeb Ride. I am emancipated and my entire family died in a fire shortly after the emancipation documents were finalized.

This was the story I had to tell anyone brave enough to ask me.

I stood by the windows and gazed down at the city. Even at night that city was busy. Traffic raged on and horns blazed through the air.

This was going to be one hell of a year.

**THE NEXT DAY**

"Welcome to Newberry High School, I hope that your year here is full of memories!" the desk lady said.

I nodded, grabbed my file and walked out without another word.

I looked down at my schedule just to make sure it matched with father's plan.

_1__st__ period- A.P English with Ms. Hamilton_

_2__nd__ period- A.P Science with Ms. Tomita_

_3__rd__ period- A.P Social Studies with Ms. Tau_

_4__th__ period- A.P Math with Mr. Brennan_

_LUNCH_

_5__th__ period-Advanced orchestra with Mr. Padilla_

_6__th__ period- Gym with Ms. Allen_

_7__th__ period-Sculpting with Ms. Franklin_

I memorized the school map last night before I went to bed, so I headed to my locker on the east side of the school. I kept my eyes straight forward, refusing to meet anyone's gaze. When I finally reached my locker, I realized that people were lingering, trying to stall before moving off. They were waiting for something.

I kept my guard on high alert as I turned to my locker, and looked around warily. I felt someone tap my shoulder and I whirled around to come to another girl. She was about 5 '6 in height, she had high cheekbones, pale green eyes, and an even skin tone. Her flaming curly red hair swarmed around her shoulders.

"Hi, you're the new senior right?" she said in a high voice.

"Yes," I said tonelessly.

"Cool my names Lissa, Well, I hope you have a nice year here even though it's your last," she said.

"Thanks," I said turning around.

"So where you from?" she asked.

"Justice high." I replied.

"Cool, why don't you open your locker so I can help you clean it out?" she said smiling sickly.

That's what confirmed my uneasiness. I nodded without a word and turned to my locker. The halls grew uncomfortably silent. I spun in the first two digits of my code, and when I reached the third digit, something clicked. It was barely audible, but I heard it.

I yanked the door open and stepped to the side as a stink bomb was thrown out. As fast as I could, I picked it up and threw it all the way down the long hall and out the window. Green gas exploded out as soon as it hit the stairs.

I brushed my hands off and whirled around to Lissa, whose mouth was on the floor just like all the other people.

"Next time you want to pull a prank on someone, make sure it doesn't start ticking until I turn the first digit," I said slamming my door shut.

I stalked off to the northern part of the school for English and plopped down on the back seat, throwing up my hood.

The funny thing was, I wasn't angry at Lissa.

I was amused that she thought she could pull a fast one on a trained assassin.

Kids flowed in one by one and everyone tried to avoid the empty seat next to mine. This is when things started to kick in to plan, because Iggy Walker took the seat next to mine.

**Seriously though, because I wrote Max to be an assassin, I will waste no time making Lissa her first victim.**

**...**

**that's enough ninja movies for me.**

**REVIEW PLEASE!**

**-Shift.**


	4. Too Easy

I really should make my chapters longer huh? Whaddaya think about that?

Shoutouts to: **Kallik of Gallifrey **and **HeAt- StRoKe **for reviewing and reading! Thanks guys! Please stay loyal it'll be worth it in the end I promise.

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><p>"Hey there," Iggy said.<p>

"Hi," I responded.

"Oh no," he said.

"What?" I asked.

"Another human being that doesn't talk much. You'd get along fine with my brother Fang," he said smiling.

I nodded and turned to face the front of the class.

"So what's your name?" he asked.

"Elizabeth. But you can call me Elizabeth," I said.

He chuckled and continued talking, cracking random jokes while I added a false smile here, and a sarcastic comeback there. Getting acquainted with Iggy was actually easier than I'd planned.

"You're pretty funny; you should sit with me at lunch today." He said.

"Who sits with you?" I asked.

"My brother Fang, my girlfriend Ella, and her best friend Nudge, and a bunch of other people I'll introduce you to later," he said.

Was it me? Or was this mission getting easier by the minute?

"Guys this is Elizabeth, she's the new girl here," Iggy said sliding next to Ella.

I had read up on all of them last night with the other documents and learned the Ella and Nudge were really friendly and social. But I was dealing with the enemies children. There was no such thing as befriending with these people.

"Hi!" Ella and Nudge said together.

"Hi." I said lamely.

"See Fang I told you! She's just like you!" Iggy said.

I rolled my eyes and plopped beside Nudge. I glanced down warily at my lunch, I'm not exaggerating when I say this, but all I saw was a big pile of brown mush.

Ella must have realized my face I made at the food, because she tossed me an apple from her brown bag.

"Thanks," I said.

But of course I didn't take a single bite, I just twirled it around with my fingers.

"Oh my bad, Eliza I didn't introduce you to everyone yet," Iggy said.

I sighed and looked up at Iggy.

"Eliza? Really?" I asked.

He smiled and nodded. He turned to a girl with chest nut hair that went to her lower back, and patter her head.

"This is JJ," he said.

JJ waved and flashed a smile before turning back to her home lunch.

Iggy turned to a boy who I recognized from another file. His name was Sam Martinez, and his father was the one working for Itex.

"This is Sam," he said.

I nodded and looked at the next person. She was the shortest out of the entire group and her black straight hair reached her lower back.

"And this, is Grace," Iggy said.

"Nice to meet you all," I lied smoothly.

"So Elizabeth, where you from?" Fang asked.

I watched him warily, as did everyone else. Wasn't he the silent one around here?

"California," I said.

"Ooh, I went to California last summer! The sun is always up but the wind is really strong! Oh and when I went to the dock once, a pelican flew by and bit my churo!" Nudge said smiling.

**(A/N that really happened to me. I was on vacation in California and then this big bird comes out of nowhere and takes a bite out of my churo! XD)**

I smiled slightly and took a swig of my water.

"Have any siblings?" Sam asked.

"Dead," I replied.

This frown wasn't fake.

From the corner of my eyes, everyone gave Sam a glare. He looked at me apologetically.

"Sorry bout that Elizabeth," Iggy said.

"Nah, it's all in the past," I said.

But it wasn't. No amount of training, no talk from father, no form of torture could ever make me forget Ari.

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><p>My apartment was the same way I left it. Empty, cold and depressing.<p>

I sunk down onto my bed and leaned onto my headboard. I stared emotionlessly at the picture beside my bed. It was Ari, mother, and I wrapped in father's arms. We were all smiling as if it was raining ice cream. Hours passed of me just staring at the picture.

When I realized that I was crying, I slammed the picture down and raced towards my closet.

I pulled out my compartment of switch blades and tied 4 to the back of my calf. I slid on knee high boots after wards. I strapped 4 guns to each side of my long coat that ended by my calves, making sure they were fully loaded.

I went to the empty living room and kicked the coffee table so that the legs were faced up. Strapped to the base were millions of skinny needles in their own personal slots. I used three to tie up my hair in a weird fashion I learned from visiting Tai Won.

I unfastened the hooks of my window and slid them open. I took in the room once more before turning to the open window.

Then, I jumped.

**I'll be sure to make next chapter longer, just for you guys because you guys actually reviewed on more than one chapter.**

**R&R!**

**-Shift**


	5. Blood Lust

**Thanks for the reviews again!**

**Shoutouts to: Kallik of Gallifrey, The Jade Empress, and because-i-am.**

**reply to because-i-am: Yeah I had no idea that Saxons were even real. I just wanted a cool name, hehe. But after doing a little research, I find it quite interesting that the Saxons actually did have a little bit of their fair share in destruction. **

**Anyways, I hope this chapter is long and satisfying. **

**ENJOY!**

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><p>"<em>Hi I'm Samantha Roberts from New York times breaking news. A number of dead bodies were found behind a dumpster on 43<em>_rd__ street right across from Moe's bar. There were a few witnesses-"_

"_43rd street has a reputation for hosting the most club fight, but the amount of dead bodies found behind the dumpster is something we've never seen-"_

"_This is Rebecca Donaldson reporting from 43__rd__ street. Behind me is the crime scene were a total amount of 21 bodies were found. Each body was cut in different places, each cut never replaying a pattern. Detectives say-"_

I sighed and flicked off the T.V. I suppose you would say I was having a little _fun _last night. Father says I have bloodlust when I get angry. I didn't agree with him, until I was 12.

I had just gotten into an argument with father and ran out of the house. When I got home, I didn't remember anything at all. But as I got older, flashes of that night came back.

I walked through the entire city, murdering the first set of people I could get my hands on. It's sort of like your mind goes blank, you don't know what you're doing, and you can only register two things. The first, is that you're angry and two, you need blood.

I guess you could call me a half-assed vampire.

I had no doubt in my mind that I murdered those people last night. It didn't scare me that there might have been a witness or two.

But what really scared me, was that I didn't regret a second of it.

School the next day was interesting. Iggy and Ella got into a fight, thus dividing the entire lunch table in half. Sam, Fang and Iggy on one side, Grace, Ella, Nudge, and JJ on the other. I pulled up a chair and sat at the head of the table, looking back and forth between Iggy and Ella.

The entire lunch breezed past without anyone saying a word. Each of us just stared down at our lunches, not bothering to start up a conversation.

Music class was boring as it was yesterday. Mr. Padilla didn't have any idea what he was doing, and as usual half his class wasn't even playing. They were playing on their phones, not even bothering to hide it.

P.E also took an interesting twist. I watched in amusement as Ella tried to beam Iggy with all the dodge ball's she could get her hands on, but Iggy made no move to counter her attacks. If only these balls were knives, it'd be more interesting. Especially if they killed each other.

There's a bit of Max humor for ya.

I stood off to the side, watching other kids scramble around, desperately trying to avoid the big red balls. The teams were evenly divided, but my team was slowly losing players.

Fang, Iggy, Sam, JJ and Nudge were all on the other team. Ella was on my team, and she was one of the only ones standing. Besides me that is. I watched as one by one all the members of my team were out.

Leaving only me.

Left to face the rest of the other team with 21 kids.

Pft, piece of cake.

"LET'S GO JACOBS!" Ms. Allen shouted.

The other team locked their eyes on me, and at the same time, they all launched their balls. Instinct kicked in, and I tumbled forward, all the balls soaring above my head.

More balls were launched at me, and more I ducked. I was finally tired of this stupid game, so I just allowed myself to get hit.

"Elizabeth what was that?" Ella said walking over.

"I got tired," I said walking to the showers.

"Yeah you got 'tired' " Iggy said in a mocking tone.

"I could kill you. And then drag your body out behind the school dumpster and no one would notice," I said.

Oh if only he understood that I really _could _do these things, he'd back off. But alas, his small brain is not programmed to hold such understanding. I felt my hairs on the back of my neck prick up, and I turned around to see Fang watching me with an intense expression.

I looked away and headed to the lockers to change for next period.

"Elizabeth….Elizabeth wait up!" someone shouted behind me.

I turned around and saw Ella and Nudge jogging over towards me.

"Yes?" I asked.

"We were just wondering…"Ella started off.

"If we could…" Nude continued.

"But it's okay…" Ella started again.

I sighed and placed a hand on my hip.

"Spit it out already," I said.

"Can we sleep over your house for the weekend? Please! We just got into a huge fight with our mom this morning, and usually we'd stay at Iggy's but after their fight Ella doesn't want to ask Iggy because of her pride, and JJ will be visiting her aunt in Virginia! And Grace can't because her mom doesn't even like us! And we can't ask Sam because…well…Sam is Sam. Anyways-"

Was it just me, or was this part of the mission getting super easy?

"Sure," I said shrugging.

"See Ella I told you she'd say no, she just met us-"

"REALLY?" They screamed together.

"Yeah sure. But I have a few rules." I said climbing in the front seat of my car.

Ella slid in shot gun and Nudge grumpily settled for the back.

"Sure," Ella said. "What are they?"

"First of all, don't use all my hot water when you shower." I said seriously.

They smiled and nodded, as if this was a joke. But it wasn't. A girl really needs her hot water for a shower.

"Second, stay away from the third window. It's loose and if you fall out, I'm so not jumping after you," I said.

"Yes ma'am. Anything else?" Ella asked fiddling with the radio.

"One last thing," I said.

Nudge looked at me questionably and Ella cocked her head to the side.

"Stay out of my room."

"WOAH!" Ella said stepping in my apartment.

I quickly scanned the room, making sure my weapons weren't in sight. Nudge stepped in after Ella, and for the first time ever, she was speechless.

"It's not that great…" I said.

"Are you kidding? You can see the whole city from your wall of windows!" Ella said scrambling over.

I guess I never noticed. I was too busy plotting the way I'd kill them all.

"Yeah it's beautiful! And your furniture is awesome! Is this leather?" Nudge asked fingering the couch.

"Yep," I said.

We walked down another hallway and turned to the guest bedroom. I opened the door and allowed them to set their bags down.

"Theres only one bed…" I said.

"It's okay, the floor looks comfortable too," Nudge said.

"Good because you're sleeping there tonight," Ella said.

I left the two wrestling over the bed, and walked to the kitchen. I quickly pulled out all the poison mixes I made and shoved them on the top shelf behind the broken toaster. I sprinted to the living room and swiped all the blades up from under the coffee table and stuffed them into my coat pockets inside the coat room.

When I got back, Ella and Nudge were in the living room, turning the T.V on.

"_Hi and welcome back to New York's 24 hour news. I'm Jessica Ronald. As of 12:30 this afternoon, 42 people were reported missing from and at first it was reported to be ransom, until we discovered that each of those people work for a company named Itex. Families are protesting outside of the main office right now, demanding answers, take a look"_

The T.V switched cameras so that we could see the strike. Wives, husbands, sons and daughters. They were all there, waving signs and pushing against the security line.

"OMG!" Nudge screamed.

"What?" I shouted.

"That's our mom!" Nudge shouted.

I looked back at the T.V screen and saw that in the line of security, Marian stood there, taking care of the more…violent protesters. The only thing was, she didn't attack until the opponent did. She had a cold look in her eyes, and I studied them closely, anticipating her next move.

"OMG, Call dad!" Ella screeched.

The two girls raced to the guest bedroom while I sat on the couch, watching Marian. The camera zoomed in and focused on her, and I watched as she swung her legs and captured the opponent's forearms in the crook of her knee. Then with a swift motion, she twisted and crunched his arm.

I leaned back against my couch and smirked. I should save Marian for last. I should let her know that I'm coming. As soon as this thought entered, more thoughts followed, and I already had a plan down. This was just to easy. No one would bother to suspect the new girl who moved from California. No one would be able to blame me for this. This plan was full proof.

I threw my head back and laughed loudly, but stopped when I heard a thud. I looked up to the hallway and saw Ella scrambling backwards to the guest room. Narrowing my eyes, I stood and tiptoed over to the slightly open door.

"Nudge, stop talking, I have to tell you something important!" Ella whispered furiously.

"What?" Nudge said.

"I'm getting bad vibes," Ella whispered again.

I cocked my head and pressed my body closer against the door.

"What are you talking about Ella?" Nudge asked leaning on the bed.

"Everything! The protesters, mom, this place, even Elizabeth…it's all screaming 'danger'! But I don't know why," Ella said.

I frowned and clenched my fist. This wasn't part of the plan.

"Ella. Calm down. That girl out there was nice enough to supply us with a home for the weekend when no one else could. So suck it up, and be nice," Nudge smiled.

"You don't get it! Someone got their arm snapped in half and she was _laughing!" _she whispered furiously.

"So?"

I couldn't help the smirk that pulled up along my face.

"Fine. But I'm still a little wary towards Elizabeth," Ella sighed.

I walked away then, heading to the windows. I could still hear their conversation raging on, but I focused on the city below me. I studied the amount of cars on the road, the advertisements on the buildings, and the angle of the sun was shining.

"Ahem, Elizabeth?" Ella said.

I whirled around and faced to her direction. She stood a fair distance away, scuffing her foot against the floor. Her eyes were studying the marble floor with great interest.

"Where's the showers?" she asked softly.

"Down the hall, second door on your left," I said turning back around.

I heard her mutter something before turning down the hall and heading down the room. The soft _pat, pat, pat, _of her socks against the floor was fading as she went deeper into the apartment.

Two hours later, we were all sitting around the T.V, showered and sipping hot chocolate that I made. Before I gave them their cups, I slipped a little sleeping drug inside. Nudge sipped her drink and her eyes popped out of her sockets.

"OMG! This is sooooo good Elizabeth! How did you make it like this?" Nudge asked sipping more.

"Secret Ingredient. If I told you what it was, I'd have to kill you," I chuckled.

Oh irony, how I love thee.

I looked at Ella and she hesitantly took a sip of the cup before giving me a small smile and placed the cup down on the coffee table. We were watching reruns of The Simpsons when Ella asked me the question.

"Elizabeth?" she asked.

"Hmm?" I said.

"Don't get mad," she whispered looking down.

Nudge and I looked at her and I cocked my head.

"What did you do?" I asked.

"I sorta…went to your room on accident, I swear. I took the wrong door, but I couldn't help but notice the picture on your nightstand," she said.

Don't get mad. Don't get mad. Stay calm. Breathe. The plan will go nowhere if you kill them now.

Without a word, I stood and walked out of the room and headed to my bedroom. I picked up the photo frame and a small pendant from the drawer. When I walked back, Nudge was whispering furiously at Ella, but they shut up when I stepped into the room.

I handed Nudge the picture carefully and gave Ella the pendant.

"That's my mother and brother," I said sitting down.

"She's really beautiful Elizabeth," Nudge whispered.

This smile was a little forced.

"Yeah…she was." I said frowning again.

"Was?" Ella repeated.

Nudge shot her sister a look and started apologizing.

"No, it's okay," I interrupted. "They died awhile ago. I was 16. My family and I didn't really see eye to eye on a lot of things," I lied.

My family and I were the happiest family on this earth. We could probably even beat Barbie and her fake ass family.

"So, I filed myself to become emancipated as soon as I was 16. They signed it they drove me to finalize it at the police station." I said.

Silence followed for a while, and I let the story sink in.

"When it was all done, they offered to take me home and pack my bags. I told them to leave without me and that I was taking the bus to live with my best friend at the time…her name was Mei Na," I whispered.

Throughout training, I was told to push your feelings to the very back of your head. Let it be the one human characteristic that you neglected. But saying _her _name alone was enough to send tears down my face. I let them go, adding extra sadness to the story.

Nudge patted my arm and brushed my tear away. I smiled and continued on.

"As soon as they pulled out of the parking lot, a massive truck barreled through the streets and _flung _them off the road and they crashed through the stores. It was like a slow motion horror movie. Bang. Fly. Crash. Boom." I said.

"Oh Elizabeth," Ella whispered.

I nodded at the pendant in Ella's hands.

"That was the only thing the police were able to save from the wreck. It belonged to my mother…I can't believe I was so stupid!" I screamed standing up.

The girls were silent.

I looked at the mirror on the wall and saw Nudge and Ella staring down at the treasures in their hands.

"Guys…" I sighed. "I'm so sorry. I'm just tired. I'm gonna hit the sack," I said walking away.

As soon as I rounded the corner, I head two thuds. Ella and Nudge have been knocked out by the drugs. Smiling, I headed for my knives.

**Hehe, will Ella and Nudge make it through the night?**

**Will Max ever trust anyone again?**

**Will Iggy ever finally land a girl?**

**Iggy: HEY!**

**Me:...I so didn't know you were just there.**

**Iggy: Yeah, but I am here, so tough.**

**Me: Must be your time of month...**

**Iggy: What did you say?**

**Me:Uh...REVIEW PLEASE! HIGHLY APPRECIATED!**

**-Shift**


	6. Because Of You

**Kallik of Gaillfrey: what is this Doctor Who you speak of? Is that like a television show or something?**

**Jade Empress: Well, your about to find out ;)**

**SHOUTOUTS TO MAH PEEPS WHO REVIEW AND READ THANKS A BUNCH! YA'LL KNOW WHO YOU ARE! :D**

**oh and before i forget,**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Maximum Ride or it's characters, JP does. But I do own this plot.**

**And now without further ado,**

**I present to you,**

**A new chapter. **

**I hope you enjoy.**

* * *

><p>They say that revenge is the best medicine a victim can get. There's no such thing as therapists and counseling when it comes down to it. It's either get the revenge, or don't.<p>

And I took my revenge that night.

Well...almost.

Nudge and Ella were both knocked out the entire night, giving me time to set up the crime scene. I leaned Nudge against the window and took Ella and sprawled her out on the kitchen floor. I flipped all the chairs in the living room over so that they were in different directions. I cracked the coffee table in half and threw one end of the table on one side of the room, and the other end to the other side. I cracked flower pots on the floor and smashed the T.V.

The next part was the fun part.

I grabbed the knife I laid out on the kitchen table. I headed over to Nudge first.

"You really should learn to listen to your sister sometimes," I said shaking my head.

I took the knife and ran it down across her arms. Blood seeped through her skin and poured out in a pool around her. She didn't stir an inch. Smiling, I ran the blade against her cheeks, making new blood spill down. I set the blade aside, and took her left arm in my hands. With a swift motion, I twisted her arms several times, hearing a satisfying crack.

Nudge didn't even move a muscle.

I was chuckling now, as I reached for her leg. I took her right leg in my hand, and with a swift motion, twisted it into different angles.

Satisfied with my work, I grabbed the blade and moved on to Ella. I clicked my tongue and looked down on her. Kneeling down slowly by her head, I shook my head disapprovingly.

"What's sad is that I actually think you were warming up to me. It sucks the way things turn out huh? Well, if it's anything I learned about life is that it can fuck with you all you want, but you have the final verdict on what happens." I said. "What do you have to say about this?" I asked.

Silence.

"Haha yes, I thought so too," I smiled.

I took my time with Ella, savoring every cut, every snap, and every punch. In the end she ended up with 2 cracked ribs, one broken wrist, several cuts on her arms and legs and a fractured nose.

I laughed as I stood up from Ella's body. I stepped back into the hallway to observe the living room. It really did look like a real crime scene. Now this is where things get a little more complicated.

I took the knife and slid it down my arms in a swift motion. But I ripped the edge of my shirt off and slashed the knife against my lower back as well. As soon as I was covered in blood and cuts, I limped over to the phone on my twisted ankle.

I dialed 9-1-1.

"9-1-1 what is your emergency?" a lady said.

"h-h-help me-e-e." I said in a trembling voice.

"Okay honey. I'll track your phone and a couple of officers will be over shortly. Please, just hang on for a moment okay? Help is on the way," she said.

"h-help…_please," _I practically begged.

Then, I hung up. I grabbed the drug that knocked out the girls and shot it down my throat before throwing it out the window. I went over to the front door, unlocked it, and came back to my pool of blood. I laid there and closed my eyes, letting darkness overcome. Before I went under the drugs influence, I heard a shout out from the door.

"NEW YORK POLICE!"

I fought a smirk.

* * *

><p>As expected, I awoke in a hospital room. What I didn't expect, was that I was sharing it with Ella and Nudge. They were both awake. Family swarmed around them, crying and hugging. I froze in place when I saw Marian clutching Ella tight to her.<p>

The sight made me sick.

It made me so sick, that I barfed into the trash can beside me. When I leaned back into my bed, gasping for air, I felt everyone's eyes on me.

"ELIZABETH!" Ella and Nudge screamed.

I tilted my head in their direction and smirked at their worried faces.

"Ya'll look like shit," I said putting a smile on my face.

"Elizabeth! Are you okay?" Nudge asked.

I eyed her two casts with proud, but hit them with worry.

"More like, are _you _okay?" I asked nodding towards her casts.

She blushed and shrugged. Marian's glances went from her daughters to me in an instant with cold hatred. Ah, the eyes of an angry mother is quite entertaining to see.

"Who are you? Why are my daughter like this?" Marian screamed angrily.

"Like I would know? If you hadn't noticed honey, I'm not exactly fine either," I said pointing to my slit eyebrow.

"Mom it's not her fault. We don't even remember what happened last night." Ella said.

"Do you remember anything Elizabeth?" Nudge asked.

"All I remember was giving you two a picture…and a necklace…" I trailed off. "A necklace…A NECKLACE! MY MOTHER'S NECKLACE!" I shouted. I whirled on Ella. "Please tell me you still have it," I said.

"Necklace?" Ella looked down confused. Then her eyes widened and she looked up. "Necklace!" she shouted.

"You mean this thingy?" a woman asked.

She was about 5'4 in height, full head of silver hair, and wrinkles plastered all over her face. I assumed this lady to be their grandmother. And in her hand, she held my mother's necklace. She walked over to me and placed the treasure into my hands.

"Thank you," I whispered.

I clutched it in my hand and leaned against the bed frame.

"Who are you?" Marian asked angrily.

"Mom-"

"ELLA!" someone screamed.

We all looked at the door and saw Iggy leaning against the door. He looked paler than his usual self, and his head looked like he just rolled out of bed. Under his sky blue eyes were worn bags. He ran in and went straight to Ella's bed, kissing her hard.

Marian cleared her throat, and Iggy sprang away guiltily.

"Sorry-"

"Elizabeth!" I looked to the door in shock.

Fang stood there panting. He ran over to my bed and hugged me hard. My body stiffened and I pushed him away slowly, confused as ever.

"Fang?" I asked slowly.

"I was worried about you," Fang admitted.

"AHEM!" Nudge coughed loudly.

"I was worried about _all _of you guys," Fang said blushing.

I looked at Nudge and she sent me a coy smile before shaking her head and turning back to talk to her little brother Gazzy. Ella was sobbing incoherent messages into Iggy's shoulders all the while he was just whispering soothing things into her ears.

"Why?" I questioned.

Fang looked at me as if I was crazy, which I probably am.

"because you're my friend," he said in a 'duh' voice.

I frowned. He said I was his friend. I could never be his friend. Not if I had any intention to finish what I started. And I had every intention to finish.

"We just met." I pointed out darkly.

He shrugged and leaned against my bed.

"It doesn't matter. You looked like you could use someone to care," he said.

Anger taking over, I quickly swiped my fist over his kidney.

"OW!" he yelled crumpling.

"What's that supposed to mean huh Fang?" I snarled. "You don't think anyone cares about me?" I asked snidely.

But no one does. No one ever did. And no one ever will. But I don't know why his simple statement made me so angry all of a sudden. Maybe it's the fact that he thinks he can befriend me after all he and his family has done. That must be why I'm so angry. Right?

"That's not what I mean Elizabeth," he groaned clutching his stomach.

"Everything alright over there?" Iggy asked shooting us a playful glance.

I shot him the bird and faced the other way to sleep.

"Elizabeth, I'm sorry," Fang said.

"Go away," I whispered.

I don't know what shocked me the most. That he didn't listen, or that I actually slept.

* * *

><p>It was hours later when I woke up from slumber. Nudge and Ella were knocked out, leaving Marian, Fang, Iggy, Gazzy, and Mr. and Mrs. Walker. I narrowed my eyes at Jeffrey, studying his lean figure. Marian noticed me awake, and seeing as though her daughters were not around to defend me, she pounced on me like ugly on an ape.<p>

"Who are you?" she asked.

"My name is Elizabeth," I said.

"What happened to my daughters?" she asked.

"Marian," Anne whispered.

Iggy waved half heartedly at me, and Fang was watching me intensely. Gazzy and Jeffrey were looking at me curiously. I sighed and leaned against my hospital bed, suddenly tired again.

"Look all I know is that your daughters needed a place to stay, so they came home with me. Next thing I know I'm half unconscious walking to the phone to dial 9-1-1." I said.

"Why would my daughters go to you?" she said.

It was so hard to be in the same room with a bunch of murderers. I wanted to kill them right now. So badly. They were both only in reaching grasps.

"Maybe because they were tired of their mother," I spat.

"What did you say?" Marian asked coldly.

"Yeah, you heard me. The girls came to me because they didn't want to spend the weekend with _you. _And now I see why," I said just as coldly.

"Now wait a minute-"Jeffrey started.

"No! Because I'm pretty sure Wicked Witch of the East here thinks that _I'm _the one who cut up her daughters," I said.

Hehe, but I _am _the ones that cut them up.

Lying was never an issue for me; I had no flaws when I voiced my lies. No twitch, no change of voice, nothing.

"Did you just call me a witch? And I do not! I just want to know the relationship between my daughters and you," Marian said.

"Well if that's that case then we. Are. Just. Friends." I shouted.

"Where is your mother? I ought to have a talk with her about you behavior!" Marian yelled.

I couldn't help it. I burst out laughing, clutching my sides for support. Everyone eyed me warily and I smiled at Marian.

"What?" Marian asked.

"Good luck trying to reach my mom. She's dead." _Because of you! _I wanted to scream that last part, but I held my tongue.

Silence.

"Where's your father?" she asked.

Again another roar of laughter.

"Dead. Do I have any aunts you ask? Dead. Any uncles? Dead. Any family at all? Nope. They are all dead," I snorted.

Marian was expressionless. She walked over to her daughter's bed and sat down without a word. I scoffed and turned the other direction going back to sleep.

Marian's going to regret everything. She's going to pay for this. She's going to pay for _everything. _

**Well, how was that it? **

**R&R please!**

**-Shift **


	7. Boiling Point

**Kallik of Gallifrey: Hmm...sounds interesting. But as usual I don't trust the internet summary. So I want your opinion instead on the show. Does it really have something to do with time travel? BTW, thanks for reading and your constant encouraging reviews. I really appreciate it.**

**Jade Empress: Thanks for reading, and if you have any suggestions or anything for what I should do, just tell me and I'll see what I can do alright? Thanks for reading.**

**THANKS A BUNCH FOR THE REVIEWS GUYS.**

**Disclaimer: you guys are pretty smart and should know that I don't own any Maximum Ride at all. If I did however, Dylan would have died a very long time ago.**

**Now, moving on...**

**Here's another chapter.**

**Enjoy.**

* * *

><p>Days passed, and visitors came in to visit the girls. Different people every time. They both felt really bad that no one came visit me, but I didn't really mind, nor care. There were only two people that came to see me and I was actually expecting them.<p>

"Ms. Jacobs?" the first guest called.

"That's me," I spoke up.

The other visitors kissed Ella and Nudge good-bye at the sight of the two new visitors.

"My name is Detective Jones and this is my partner Detective June, we would like to ask a few questions." Detective Jones said

"Fire away," I said confidently.

"You were the one that called the cops?" Detective Jones asked.

"Yep,"

"Can you tell me what you ladies were doing from 8 PM to 9PM on that night?" Detective June asked.

"Um Detective?" Ella whimpered.

We all looked at her. She looked small and frail. Timid and afraid and most of all, uncomfortable.

"Yes? Would you care to shine some light on the subject?" Detective Jones asked.

His tone was rising and his eyes flashed darkly.

"We don't remember anything at all from that night," Ella said shrinking back.

"Yeah," Nudge butted in.

"Is this true Elizabeth?" Detective June asked gently.

"Yep. We only remember talking about my parents, but that's as far as our memory will go," I said frowning.

"Alright then. But we might have something interesting to show you," Detective Jones said.

"Sure?" I said.

From his briefcase, Detective Jones pulled out a manila folder. He tossed it to me, and I unfolded the flap and took out the papers inside. They were pictures of the crime scene. I tossed a few shots to Nudge and Ella, and they gasped in shock when they saw it. I gritted my teeth in anger when I looked at a shot, showing my cracked family photo in the corner.

I flipped to the next page and froze in place.

The detectives mistook my look of shock for fear. Detective June lightly patted my head and I folded the paper in half and refused to let Ella or Nudge look at it. The Detectives didn't ask for it back.

The hour continued full of questions and meaningless promises to track down the man who did this to us. The two detectives left, leaving a shocked Max, and a scarred pair of sisters.

"OMG what if they find the man? What if we have to testify in court? What if he comes back for us? OMG-"

Ignoring the distress of the two girls, I looked down hard at the foot of my bed. The folded picture was burning through my hospital gown and practically flaming my entire body with confusion.

I didn't do this.

I mean, I did create the crime scene, but there was an added piece.

The picture in my pocket showed a shot of my bedroom. It was torn apart. Clothes thrown everywhere, the bed flipped upside down, my nightstand kicked over. But on the clear white wall in the back of my bed, were words written in a deep shade of red.

_I know you did it. _

I knew this message was directed to me. But what did this person know about? The killing spree I went on a few nights ago? Or the crime I committed to the girls?

"Elizabeth! Yoo hu!" Ella said waving a hand in front of my face.

"Oh, uh…huh?" I said looking up from my daze.

"You alright? Want some more pain killers?" Nudge asked.

"Oh uh no. I was just…" This was the first time I didn't have something to say. The pictures of my apartment coming back to my mind, I smirked inwardly and shook my head. "I was just thinking of where I was going to stay. My apartment is torn up," I laughed awkwardly.

"Well that's easy. You'll come live with us," Nudge said in a 'duh' voice.

I tensed visibly, and the Ella rolled her eyes.

"We'll make sure our mom doesn't bite. Besides, she owes you for saving our lives." Ella said.

"Saving your life?" I asked incredulously. _More like the opposite _

"Well yeah, if you didn't crawl over to the phone, we'd have died from blood lost. Any by the way, thanks a bunch for that," Ella smiled.

"Yeah, thanks a bunch. So you have to let us repay you." Nudge said.

I rolled my eyes.

"I don't _have _to let you guys do anything." I pointed out.

"Uh huh!" Ella whined "It's called a 50/50 relationship."

"You saved our lives _and _gave us a place to hide from our mom," Nudge said.

"And you just met us. So it's out of the question. You're staying with us," Ella said crossing her arms.

There were a number of problems with my life right now.

1). I would be sleeping under the same roof as Marian. Murderer of my friends and family.

2). I would be sleeping under the same roof as a murderer without any of my weapons.

3). I 'befriended' Ella and Nudge thus leading them to think they can treat me as a friend.

4). I'm sure that the murderer already dislikes me.

5). I have no idea where my father is.

6). Detectives are all over my house.

7). I have a witness.

8). I don't know which crime my witness, witnessed.

Great. Just great.

Stepping foot into the Jansen's was like stepping foot into a pit of lava. It literally burned to step foot in enemy territory.

"_Get a hold of yourself Max," _I said to myself.

Setting my pathetic small bag of clothes down on Nudge's bed, I peered around, examining the room. As expected, Nudge and Ella's room were plastered with different posters and their nightstand was full of their accessories. Such as jewelry, Makeup, and hair products.

"I'll sleep on the floor," I said.

"No, you'll take my bed and I'll sleep on the floor. You're the guest," Nudge said shaking her head.

I frowned but sat on her bed. Overall, Nudge was a really nice girl and she was very social. She was so friendly and kind and-

Stop. No getting attached.

I shook my head and sighed, kicking off my uggs. There came a knock at the door, and it slowly opened, revealing Marian. I scowled silently, and pretended to go through my bag.

"Dinners ready girls," She said in a quiet voice.

"We'll be down in a sec. " Ella said shooing her away.

"Well actually, I was hoping to talk to Elizabeth in private," Marian said.

My narrowed eyes were hidden by the bangs of my hair. Behind me, I heard Ella sigh.

"Mom for the last time, she didn't cause any of this!" Nudge said exasperated.

"Girls, just go down and set the table," Marian said sternly.

"Mom-"

"Now."

They both left without another word, and Marian closed the door. From my bag, I pulled out my night shirt and sweat pants, and placed them gently on Nudge's bed.

"About the last time we talked," Marian started.

I scoffed out loud and Marian paused. I continued acting like a busy bee, organizing my things.

"I wanted to apologize, I didn't mean to bring up your family like that, it's just that…my daughters were really important," she said sounding guilty.

The sound of her voice was surprising enough. But to hear her say that about her daughters _and_ actually apologize, made my blood stop flowing. I stumbled backwards and landed straight into her arms. She looked down at me worriedly and I cursed as I pushed away. I clenched my fists at my side and narrowed my eyes at the floor.

Why was she doing this? Was she taunting me? Does she know about how my mother died and she just wants to rub it in? Is she trying to confuse me?

"Elizabeth," there was her sick gentle voice again.

I clenched my teeth.

_It's all a trick Max. Don't let her brake down your walls._

"Elizabeth…I just wanted to let you know that you're more than welcome here anytime. I know the things I said that day were cold and harsh. But you have to understand that I'm a mother and I worry about my children. Do you know what it's like to think that your child might be dead?" she asked quietly.

"I know way too much," I snarled meanly.

Her shock was evidently written on her face.

"Let's get one thing straight. I've gone practically my whole damn life without my mother. I don't need another one, and I sure as hell don't need someone feeling sorry for me alright?" I growled.

My voice was rising and I was so dangerously close to slashing her throat. I dug my fingernails into my palms, begging them to stay in that position before I did something stupid, like rake them down her eyes.

Heated silence followed after, and it was a while before she spoke.

"Just know that my home is always open to you. And if you ever do need another mother figure, I'm always available." She said.

The door clicked close.

The anger boiling within me was too much to bear. I scrambled a hasty note to the girls explaining something about 'going out for some air and coming back later'. Without a second glance, I hopped out of their bedroom window and sprinted towards the city.

I felt bad for the first person that crossed my path.

But as usual, during my victim's death, I didn't feel a thing except anger.

**Do you guys still remember Marian from the book? I don't know if I spelled her name right but anyways she made her first appearance in the Third book, STWAOES. She was supposed to be Max's 'mommy'**

**Pft, mommy my ass.**

**Anywho,**

**Whatcha think? **

**R&R please!**


	8. Complicated History

**Disclaimmer: Yall know I dont own it. But whatever. I DONT OWN MAXIMUM RIDE.**

**Shoutouts to: Kallik of Gallifrey, and Jade Empress.**

**Enjoy dis chapita :D**

* * *

><p>I zeroed in on the target. The corners of my vision were pinched and the edges were blurry. The only thing I could see was <em>him. <em>He was tucking his youngest daughter into bed. He kissed her forehead and turned to leave, but was stopped by his daughter.

"Da!"

I cringed at the innocence of her voice.

"Yes honey?"

"Song," she whimpered.

He sighed and brought up her nursery chair to her crib. He patted her stomach and she lay down, cuddling against her pillows. I adjusted my footing and braced my hand against the trunk of the tree.

"Better sing a song for her," I whispered to myself. "It'll be the last time you ever see her again,"

School was quiet. There was no goofing around, no gossiping, and no bullying. Everyone was stuck in their own worlds, thinking the same thing. But Sam was the worst. He broke down in the middle of class crying. I was grateful that my seat was in the back so no one could see my silent laughs.

Lunch was silent. Sam were nowhere to be found, and the rest of us looked at our lunches in distaste.

"Poor Sam…" Nudge whispered.

Ella and JJ nodded in agreement. I just kept staring down at my lunch, wishing it would magically disappear and replace itself with Italian food.

"I mean…he was so close to his father…" Nudge continued.

"Yeah well, that's life. It's a slippery son of a bitch ain't it?" I asked trying to lighten to mood.

"Shut up Elizabeth," Grace said furiously. "You have no idea what Sam is going through right now."

"Wanna bet?" I challenged.

"Grace," Iggy said in a warning tone.

"What?" she finally ended up shouting. "You can't just expect her to come here and talk like that! She doesn't know what it means to lose something valuable! She should lose something just to know what it feels like!" she screamed.

Silence. I glared darkly at her, and wasn't surprised when she looked at the floor.

"I've lost more than any of you put together," I said darkly.

Without another word, I pushed my chair back, resulting it to fall backwards. Shrugging my backpack on, I stormed out of the silent cafeteria.

The entire state of New York was in shock. Never before had so many killings come up at once. Police were restless, criminals were at the top of their game, and the court was never closed.

First the 43rd street incident, the sudden disappearances of the Itex workers, then just recently, there was another report of a massacre of 34 people were killed. And now the death of Jimmy Parker from Itex.

Detective Jones was so confused and frustrated. None of the deaths were connecting together. And although Jimmy Parker worked for Itex, the disappearances of those people were not fitting.

Detective Jones walked over to his partner's desk, and flipped around the many manila folders, and pulled out the one with Jimmy Parker's name on it.

Flipping the report open, Detective Jones peered down into the folder and reread the notes that his partner and scribbled down messily.

_-Jimmy's body found in bathroom_

_-Bathroom window open_

_-No bullet holes_

_-No stab marks_

_-No cuts or bruises_

_-Neck was bruised and red_

_-Bathroom mirror cracked _

_-No fingerprints_

_-No blood_

Exasperated beyond comprehension, Detective Jones slammed the report down and sat down, burying his head into his hands. Nothing was making sense.

Detective Jones' cell phone rang from across the room, and slowly he walked to retrieve it. Pressing the 'TALK' button, he placed the phone by his ear.

"Hello?"

"Jones," the familiar voice of his partner was evidently exited.

"What is it?"

"We may have something, did you finish running the DNA tests on Jimmy's clothes?" Detective June asked

Detective Jones eyed the Ziploc bag across the room full of the victim's clothing.

"Yes, but there was nothing there. No fingerprints, no clothing patterns, not even a stray hair," Detective Jones said

"Well you sound like you need a new topic. Swing back by the house, I'm going to ask Jimmy's older boy some questions because his mother is too busy crying to anything right now,"

Frowning, Detective Jones grabbed his keys and the Ziploc bag and walked out of the office.

"I didn't know he had an older son, let alone a wife," Detective Jones said.

"Yeah well he does. The eldest son is 18 and Jimmy even had a little girl. She's about 3." Detective June said.

"If this is indeed a homicide, I'm going to kill the bastard who took this man away from his family," Detective Jones snarled.

"_If, _my friend. _If. _We still need to run a few more tests before we're positive on anything,"

"So what were the names of his family members?" Detective Jones asked

"His little girls name is Dani, and his wive's name was Margaret," June said.

"What was his son's name?"

"Sam"

"Father?"

"Maximum, I've read the news. You've been a busy bee haven't you?" father asked.

My smile was blinding, was I recognized a little bit of pride in his voice.

"Yes sir," I said sitting on Nudge's bed.

I looked at the door to make sure that it was locked.

"Jimmy Parker is dead," he stated.

"Yes, he is," I confirmed.

"What will you do about his children?" father asked curiously.

"I was going to kill a few random kids, like Lissa Redbird. Her father was from the Saxon clan and I honestly loathe her," I said

"So you're going to randomly kill off their children?" father asked.

"Yes, starting with Lissa. Then Grace," I glowered.

"Grace Jets?" father asked.

"Yes. She is the second person I loathe," I admitted.

Talking to father was never awkward. I grew up with him after all, and half the time I was scared of him, while the other half I was just a regular girl living with her father. Of course we didn't talk about things regular fathers and daughters talk about, but our relationship is strange like that.

"Maximum, there is something I have to tell you," father said seriously.

"What?" I started to panic.

"It's about your friends...Juan Lan and Mei Na," as usual, father was blunt and getting straight to the point.

I dropped the phone as one tear ran down my face. I bit the inside of my cheeks, holding the rest of them up. Coughing to make sure my voice wouldn't crack; I picked up the phone and placed it back to my ear.

"What about them?" I was grateful that my voice was strong and toneless.

"Mei Na is alive,"

It felt like a 400 lbs brick was smashed into my face. Gasping, I fell off of Nudge's bed and landed on my backpack. With trembling hands, I placed the phone back to my ear.

"Wha- what?" I said breathlessly. "Father that's impossible, we, the village-"

"She ran away. Do you remember when I would leave you for 6 months each year?" father asked

"Ye- yes," I said

"I would travel to her and train her in the same ways I trained you," father said.

"Father, I'm confused. Why did you keep this from me? What good would it do for me to know about her now?" I was screaming now.

I couldn't help it. Father knew that we were best friends when I was growing up. He knew that she mattered to me, and he didn't tell me. For years, I've been thinking that she's been dead. For years I've been mourning her death, using her loss as fire to feed my flame.

"Do not shout at me Maximum Ride," father said darkly.

I felt like I was 6 again, and I looked down at the floor in shame. Even though we were talking through the phone, I could tell he was glaring furiously.

"I didn't tell you because I needed you to be at your strongest. I didn't need you to get a distraction. As the same for her during her training," father explained.

"Why are you telling me now?" I asked frustrated.

"Because as of next month, she will join you in bringing down the Saxons."

I hung up and slammed the phone on Nudge's nightstand.

If you're wondering what I did after father's phone call, I'll give you two options.

1). Go on a killing spree

2). Bawl my eyes out into Nudge's pillow.

If you choose option number 1, you're wrong.

* * *

><p><strong>No seriously though, who thought she was going to choose option 1? <strong>

**I'm just curious.**

**-Shift**


	9. Never Thought I'd See You Again

**Nothing much to say except the usual.**

**Disclaimer: I dont own Maximum Ride, although I'm sure you know that.**

**SHOUTOUTS TOOOO: Kallik of Gallifrey, and Jade Empress.**

**Here's one of my longer chapters so far, but pay close attention to the events that happen here because in the next chapter, things are gonna get hectic. **

**Enjoy.**

* * *

><p>I sat in the driver's seat of my car, tapping away on the steering wheel nervously. People were crowding around the entrance doors, waiting for the family and friends to come out. From the parking lot, I could see the inside baggage claim, and security double checking the tags on the bags. If you hadn't guessed yet, I was at the airport.<p>

Waiting.

For Mei Na.

A week ago, when father dropped the news on me, I cried hard for at least a half hour before I became disgusted with myself so I just continued life, waiting for more details. The following day father faxed me her flight schedule and her transfer documents so that she could enroll into school with me.

Detectives finally got all the evidence they needed from my apartment, and so they gave me full rights to go back. After much protest from Nudge and Ella, they finally gave in and helped me move back in.

My nerves were tearing me apart, but as I stared into my rear view mirror, I saw that my eyes looked locked and guarded, my face set hard as stone.

Would she still want to be my friend? Does she still remember our play dates when we were smaller? My mind was tearing itself apart, slowly but surely. When my mental suicide range was at its peak, a voice shattered my thoughts.

"Maximum?"

I whirled around to my passenger side door, and my breath caught in my throat.

She was so…grown up.

I didn't know what to say. So instead, I got out of the car, slammed my door shut and walked around the hood of the car to stand in front of her. We examined each other, memorized each other's features.

Her long black hair was cut into layers the fell neatly around her shoulders. Her smooth pale face was emotionless and cold. Her eyebrows were pinched together tightly and she looked confused for a minute.

"Mei Na…"I whispered.

Suddenly, her entire façade was gone. Her frown and knitted eyebrows came undone, and her beautiful face was lit up with extreme happiness. She dropped her duffel bag and wrapped her arms around my neck. Making sure my pocket knife was still strapped to my forearm under my jacket, I wrapped my arms around her torso, burying my face into her hair.

"I missed you…" I said slowly.

"Oh Max," she chuckled. She pulled away and held me at arm's length. "All this time, I thought you were dead. But now you're so grown up and _beautiful! _And even better, you're alive!" she said smiling.

"I can't believe father didn't tell us about each other," I said getting mad all over again.

"Don't blame uncle," Mei Na said.

"Why the hell not?" I asked.

"He's just trying to help us." Mei Na said.

"Pft, whatever." I replied tossing her bag to the back.

"Max, you don't have to act anymore," Mei Na said.

I frowned and looked at her questionably before sliding in the driver's seat.

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"You're father's not here. You don't have to put on a mask anymore," she said gently.

"This is not a mask Mei Na," I said.

She giggled and smiled happily, turning my radio up.

"Just call me Mei!" she said

"_I got a pocket, got a pocket full of sunshine,_

_I got a love and I know that it's all mine,_

_Oh. Whoa!_

_Do what you want but you're never gonna brake me,_

_Sticks and stones are never gonna shake me no._

_Whoa." _

Mei continued singing the song the rest of the way to my apartment, even long after the song was finished. I couldn't help but compare her to myself. She was so bubbly and perky, even after training with father for all these years. And she trusted me easily. I was a little wary; I would have to interrogate her on questions only the real Mei Na would know. Then maybe, we could get somewhere.

Pulling next to the valet booth, I got out Mei's back and tossed the keys to William, the valet worker.

"Nice place," Mei commented happily.

I shook my head and made her follow me to the main elevators.

"Where have you been living?" I asked.

"Here, there, mostly Africa…" she paused. "But when your father asked if we could return to China, I flat out refused,"

"He made you that offer too?" I asked.

She nodded and leaned against the elevator walls.

"I mean, I thought he was just trying to make me mad or something for training, but looking back on it now, I really think he just wanted to hurt my feelings," Mei Na said.

"Well that's what we train for, Mei." I pointed out. "People who have jobs like us don't have feelings,"

The rest of the elevator ride was spent in silence. I slid my key into my door handle slot and pushed the heavy door open.

Father's insurance covered the damage that was done and the house looked spick and span as if nothing had every happened. It was actually to clean for my liking, it was like a hospital. Not even the toilets are unsanitary.

"Nice," Mei whistled.

I dropped her bag on the couch and motioned for her to have a seat.

"I don't trust you fully yet," I admitted.

"Ditto," she replied sitting .

"So, I want to ask you a few questions that only my best friend Mei Na would know, alright?" I asked.

"Me too," she said.

"What was the name of our second friend?" I asked.

"Juan Lan," she replied.

She looked at me hard and cocked her head to the left.

"When was Juan Lan's birthday?" she asked.

"May 4th," I said.

"What do I fear the most?" I asked.

"Well…you _used _to fear spiders. But seeing as though our training taught us to overcome our fears, I would imagine you're not that afraid of them anymore, correct?" she asked.

"Correct," I said smirking.

"Where was our secret hide out?" Mei asked.

The answer of this question would confirm my trust. She already pointed out that we had a secret hiding spot, which we did, but my answer would gain her full trust. She already had mine the moment she asked that question.

"It was 2 miles away from the village. Under 4 boulders and we disguised it with dirt and leaves," I said.

She smiled and me, and I smiled back. For the first time in 14 years, my smile wasn't forced.

Father made sure that Mei Na and I had the same exact classes for school. As we walked in the first gates, we were practically joined at the hip.

"I've made…acquaintances," I whispered.

"What do you mean by that?" she asked walking into the office.

"The Saxon's eldest children. I've "befriended" them all, and I'm introducing you to them today," I said.

She laughed out loud at this.

"You befriended them? What a word _Elizabeth,"_ she teased.

I rolled my eyes and punched her arm playfully.

"Shut up, _Tony,_" I retorted.

"Eww, I hate that name," she admitted taking her schedule.

We walked out of the office together, talking about random things and for once in my life, I felt completely happy. And I was even more happier when I realized that Mei Na felt the same too.

"So, what's the gym class like?" she asked once we reached her locker.

I rolled my eyes and leaned against the one beside her.

"It's a joke. The kids don't even listen to Ms. Allen, or her whistle," I said.

"No but…are there any softball teams?" she asked curiously.

I frowned and cocked my head.

"You're still interested in softball?" I asked.

When we were children, Mei Na used to always say that she would run away to America where she would play softball with the best.

"Yeah, I actually played a game once or twice," she said.

"Where?" I asked curiously.

"Brazil. Uncle Jeb had set back to see you I suppose, leaving me alone. The kids there were really friendly and they have a really good arm. I picked up a few tips from them," she smiled broadly.

"Well then, I'll be sure to attend all your games," I said smiling.

She shook her head and started blushing.

"I'm not going to apply for the school team, I was just wondering." She said.

"Nope, too bad. At P.E today, I'm telling Ms. Allen that you're interested," I said.

She closed her locker shut and readjusted her backpack.

"I don't know…I'm kinda scared," she said.

I knew how bad her nerves were now. She would never admit that she was scared out loud. Even if it were just her and I locked in a room together. And even worse, she said in a busy hallway. I scanned the hallways, making sure no one was actually paying attention.

"We're trained assassins. We've been shot, bruised, beaten and bloody. And you're telling me _you _are scared?" I asked.

She laughed and nudged my shoulder.

"Not anymore, now that I have you," she smiled.

"Yo! Elizabeth!" a voice called after us.

I froze and rolled my eyes at Mei in annoyance.

"Yes Iggy?" I asked turning around.

"Iggy Walker?" Mei hissed.

"Yep." I whispered back.

"Can I copy your Dictation homework? I left mine in my binder-" he froze and looked at Mei Na. "Whose you're friend?" he asked.

"This is Tony. Tony this is Iggy. Tony is my cousin. Iggy is the irritating bastard in my life," I said.

Tony giggled while Iggy glared furiously at me. I smiled and walked into Ms. Hamilton's room. Tony went up to the teacher while I headed to the back row. Iggy took the seat in front of me.

"You guys are cousins? You don't look anything alike." Iggy commented.

"Our parents weren't really blood related. My dad was adopted into the family," I lied smoothly.

"That's cool, but between you and I, she's pretty hot," he admitted wiggling his eyebrows.

I frowned and glared.

"I'm telling Ella," I said smiling.

His eyes widened to the side of a saucer.

"You wouldn't." he said.

"I would. I could. I am," I said winking.

Iggy turned around in his seat, mumbling incoherent words to himself. When Mei Na returned, she shot a questioning glance at Iggy. I shook my head and motioned to the seat beside me.

"Guys this is my cousin Tony. Tony this is Fang, Nudge, Ella, JJ, Sam and Grace," I said pointed to each one of them.

"HI!" Nudge and Ella shouted.

Mei Na looked shocked for a second at the girls sudden friendliness. But she waved it off and smiled back, plopping down next to Nudge and Ella, quickly getting engulfed in a conversation.

"Cousins? You don't look alike," Fang stated.

"Yeah, my dad was adopted into their family," I said.

Fang and I had a weird relationship. Actually we didn't even have a relationship. He would say hi when he saw me outside of school, and he would walk with me to out classes. We never talked much about anything, and the silences between us were comfortable.

Fang nodded as if this made perfect sense. Grace and I were still on bad terms, and I've had a few run ins with Lissa. Mei noticed my sudden hostile stance and she looked at me with a confused face.

_Tell you later _I mouthed.

She nodded and went back to eating her home lunch that I so graciously reminded her to pack. I'm such a good friend.

Now, I've never been one to show off my physical skills. But when Mei Na threw a dodge ball at me and it barely missed my by a centimeter, I got competitive. Like, _really _competitive.

Mei was smiling and laughed as she threw ball after ball at kids and got them out. The girl really did have a good arm, and an even better aim. As usual, I stood off to the side, watching in amusement as people got hit in all different places. Their face, their stomachs, their legs, and last of all, their groins.

While I was smirking at a collapsed Iggy, (courtesy of Ella), Mei took my distraction and launched a ball at me. When the ball was 4 feet away, my ears snapped up and I rolled out of the way. I shot a glare at Mei and she winked in return.

I grabbed an abandoned ball, and launched it at her, but she ducked and it hit Grace in the face. If I said I didn't start giggling, I'd be a liar.

P.E raged on, and we were focused on no one but each other. When the whistle rang, we both dropped the balls in our hands and walked forward.

"You two really are cousins," Iggy said walking up with Fang. "Seriously, both of you have an amazing arm." He said.

Fang nodded in agreement and stayed silent.

"So Tony, you going out for softball? Our team sucks and we'd really get some wins with that arm," Iggy asked.

"Exactly what I was going to ask, what about Tony? You too Jacobs." Ms. Allen said.

I frowned. Ms. Allen calls everyone else by their first names except me. Did she not like me? Whatever. I shook my head and declined the offer politely. Mei however, was all over the idea.

"Sure! I'd love to!" Mei squealed.

"Good. First practice after school today at 4,"

**Eh, I couldn't help myself. I know I should have probably made Mei Na just like Max. A heartless cold person, but I decided to have fun. I mean, whats more interesting that a perky assassin?**

**Oi, Hollywood movies are getting to my head.**

**Anyways,**

**I decided to let Mei have a bubbly personality, and that will become important in the future chapters. You'll see.**

**R&R guys! Thanks for the support.**

**-Shift**


	10. What Just Happened?

**This is the last time I'm gonna do a Disclaimmer, because you are all smart enough to know that I do not own any part of Maximum Ride.**

**Anyway: Shoutouts to Kallik of Gallifrey and Jade Empress.**

**The first EVER amount of FAX is shown in this chapter. It may only be a little, but it will bloom, trust me.**

* * *

><p>"How was it?" I asked as Mei climbed into the passenger seat.<p>

"It was great! There's this one girl named Brianna on the team who has a _wicked _throw and she struck out half the team!" she said excitedly.

I swear, Mei was like a little baby on a sugar rush. Sometimes I didn't understand why Mei had such a bubbly personality all the time when she spent all her life with my father. But I suppose the difference between the two of us just makes us closer.

"Cool. While you were at practice, I was able to hack into Lissa's phone. Her father is taking her mother out to their anniversary dinner tonight, and so he'll be out tonight at a restaurant tonight," I reported.

Mei nodded and fiddled with her seat belt.

"Hey Max?" she asked.

"Yeah?"

"When this is all over…I mean…when we've completed our mission, what are we going to do?" she asked.

I never put that much thought into that and I honestly didn't know. All me life  
>it's been to train and train for this one mission.<p>

But I was curious. What _would _happen once I was finished? Where would I live? What would I do?

"I don't know," I admitted. "What about you?" I asked.

"I'm going to move to Florida, and play professional softball," she said in a daze.

She then snapped to look at me, smiling playfully. Frowning, I raised my eyebrow.

"What?" I asked.

"Maybe you could move in with _Fang," _she smirked smugly.

The sudden announcement of his name shocked me, and I cranked the wheel to the left, avoiding an upcoming car.

"What? Why would you bring him up?" I asked.

She rolled her eyes and placed her hand in her palm.

"It's obvious he likes you. You're just to robotic to notice," she smirked.

"He does not, and I am not a robot. Besides, I'll kill him along with his father," I stated darkly.

We rode in heated silence for a while, before Mei looked at me with gentle eyes. Keeping my eyes narrowed on the row and my hands clenched on the steering wheel, I sighed and rolled my shoulders.

"Max." Mei said.

"Hmm?"

She was quiet for a few minutes before she began talking again.

"I was thinking…" she started.

_Well this should be interesting._

"Maybe we should…spare the children," she whispered.

Uncomfortable silence rose between us.

"We should have them know what it's like to live without parents," she stated softly.

She was lying. The slight twitch in her jaw told me so. But if she had the guts to lie to me about this, what else has she been lying to me about?

* * *

><p>"Watch him, and once he gets his check, give me the signal." I whispered to her.<p>

She nodded and jumped off the side of the building, landing gracefully on the car hood below. I watched her as she walked into the restaurant and sat  
>3 rows over from Walter and his wife. I couldn't help but start to compare her to Lissa. Her red hair fell around her shoulders in curly strands and her pale green eyes stood out against her rosy complextion.<p>

Walter was completely different. His curly black hair was combed down and his posture was stiff and rigid. I cocked my head in curiosity, wondering why he would be so uptight around his wife.

The phone in my pocket vibrated, and I shuffled around a few knives before I could reach it. It was a text from Fang. Joy.

_Hey._

Rolling my eyes, I quickly texted a reply, keeping an eye out at the same time.

_Cn't tlk now. Im busy._

He didn't text back, and I was thankful. Walter and his wife were eating now, and they were both smiling lovingly at each other. A movement from the corner of my eye caught my attention and I looked below to see none other than our 'friends' from school come in. Mei's eyes widened and she looked up to the place where I was hiding and gave me a slight nod. I gave her a thumb and a pinkie and placed it to my ear. That was our signal for call me. Mei whipped out her phone and dialed my number, 4 seconds later, my phone vibrated and I pulled t out, placing it by my ear.

Sounds of chatter and plates clacking against each other were in the background, and I could faintly here the sound of Mei's breathing. Mei placed the phone under the table and continued chewing on the carrot cake she ordered.

Ella and Nudge noticed Mei right away and scrambled over to her booth.

"Hey Tony!" they said together.

Mei looked up and smiled at them.

"Hey!" she said.

"What are you doing here? And where's Elizabeth?" Ella asked.

The rest of the gang walked up behind them and murmured hellos.

"Well I hear this place has the best carrot cake ever," she smirked. "And Elizabeth is out…working,"

"She has a job?" Fang spoke up.

Iggy rolled his eyes and Ella and Nudge giggled. Mei smirked up at me for a split second before looking back at Fang.

"Uhm sort of...She's going to the military as soon as this year's over so she's been at the college filling out applications ever since the beginning of this semester," Mei lied smoothly.

I shrugged. That was a pretty good excuse.

"Military? That's cool! Do you think we could share a booth? It looks kinda crowded around here." Ella said.

"Sure," she said.

The gang piled in and waved down a waiter. At the same time, Mei and I looked over to Walters's table, to see him make a signal behind his back. Mei's eyes knitted together and she tried to move to the right to see better. I leaped over the roof, and onto the next building to get a better look. Walter held two fingers behind his back, and two men stood up, and went to the entrance blocking it, while another two went to the back to guard it.

"Shit," I hissed.

He had guards posted up. There was no way, I'd get him alone tonight. I was going to have to settle for what I have now. Mei looked up at me for three seconds, nodded and continued chatting with the others. She understood what I had to do.

Flipping open the case beside me, I took out my sniper. I set it carefully on the edge of the building, and made sure I had at least two shots there with me. I squinted my eyes into the aimer, and lined up the cross with Walter's head.

I took a deep breath and pulled the trigger.

Three things happened in a matter of two seconds.

1). Walter fell the ground. Dead.

2). Mei and the others all made a hasty retreat to the exits.

3). Walter's wife fell over, blood coming out from her neck.

I slammed the sniper back into the case and clipped it shut. With one last glance to make sure I didn't leave anything behind, I jumped off the building.

* * *

><p>It wasn't two minutes later when I got a phone call from Mei.<p>

"How was that shot?" I asked smugly.

I heard voices in the background.

"Mei, who's around you?" I asked curiously.

"Our friends," she paused.

I took a second to think about the predicament she was in.

"Why?" I asked slowly.

"I just wanted to give you a heads up, we'll be home in about 10 minutes," she said quietly. It sounded like she was trying not to cry.

"Why are they coming to our house?" I said loudly.

"There was a shooting down here at The Alley. Everyone was there hanging out, and this poor guy got shot and then- and then-" she was starting to fake sob.

"It's okay Tony," I heard Ella and Nudge whisper. But they sounded just as shaky as her.

"They want to come over don't they?" I asked.

"Yes. Yes I'm fine, and so are the others. I think we all just need to get a hold of ourselves, and I need you," she sobbed.

"Okay, fine." I sighed. "I'll be sure to hide everything by the time you guys get here," I said.

"Okay" she said hanging up.

Groaning, I turned to make a right and headed home. But there was one other thing that didn't make sense. How did Walter's wife get shot?

* * *

><p>Mei burst through the front door and practically barreled into me, her body raking with sobs.<p>

"I was scared- and the guy- got shot- and he- he- WAAHHH"

Well hell. Mei's one hell of an actor. I buried my face into her hair and patted her back.

"It's okay. I'm just glad all of you are all right." I said.

I turned to the rest of them and took each one of them in. Ella was tucked neatly in Iggy's arms and Nudge had her arms wrapped around Sam's waist. Hmm, interesting. I didn't know these two were going out. Grace wasn't here of course. And last but not least Fang. His face was paler than usual and his jaw was clenched tight. His eyes displayed no emotion however and he was staring at the set of college books I had set out on the coffee table. A bunch of military documents were sprawled out.

"Guys have a seat," I said.

They all flopped down on the couch. We were all silent for a few minutes before Iggy spoke up.

"Well guys… this is a hell of an apartment," he smiled.

I chuckled weakly closed one of the 4 that were open.

"Thanks," I said weakly.

"So…the military. Wow." Fang motioned to my documents.

I nodded my head.

"I wanna follow my dad's steps…" I lied.

Understanding took over his face and I looked away. Why was he so nice to me? Why was he so understanding?

"Is anyone hungry? Thisty?" I asked standing up.

"Can I get water?" Ella peeped.

"Me too," Nudge whispered.

"I'm good," Iggy and Sam said.

Fang shook his head and Mei stood up with me to go to the kitchen. As I turned the corner I pushed Mei against the ice box and waved my hands in the air.

"What do we do now?" I whispered furiously.

"We open them up, and then we know their steady enough to go, we send them off," she said simply.

"What if they start to ask questions?" I asked.

"Then we answer them with lies, just like you've been doing for the past 2 months," she said patting my shoulder. "What's wrong? You're usually so calm about this, did something happen?" she asked.

"Yeah" I sighed. "Walter's wife got shot. And I didn't shoot her." I said.

She was silent. And then a troubled expression came over her face.

"Someone else wanted to assassinate them too, but must have retreated for his wife once you got him," she said.

"Maybe. But-" I paused once I realized we were in here too long. "I'll tell you later. We need to get back to them," I said opening the refrigerator.

I pulled out two water bottles and walked back to the living room, handing one to Nudge and another to Ella.

"Sorry we took so long, she had another break down in the kitchen," I said motioning at Mei.

Mei sat beside me on the floor in front of the coffee table and laid her head on my shoulder. We spent the entire night talking and reassuring each other. I told them that it was most likely that the cameras would capture everyone that went to The Alley that night and have them report to the police station for questioning.

They weren't really exited about that, but they weren't going to ditch the cops. It was about 12 AM when Iggy and Fang's parents called, requesting that they came home. Ella and Nudge caught a ride with them so they both had to leave. Sam left too just because his girlfriend didn't look to steady to go.

"Be careful out there guys. This serial killer is all over the place," Mei whispered.

Everyone was standing awkwardly by the door, hugging each other tightly.

"Thanks, you be careful too. Both of you," Ella said.

I nodded and leaned against the wall. One more round of hugs were passed around, but Fang and I just stayed where we were. Both of us weren't so big on the hugs. Ella and Nudge walked over though and despite my protests, gave me a tight hug, which I had no choice but to return. Everyone walked out together, and Mei walked to her room. Fang stayed.

"Did you need something?" I asked hesitantly.

He just stood there, gazing into my eyes. I had no choice but to look back. His brown eyes, which were so dark looked like they were pitch black. He walked over slowly to me, and we stood toe to toe. I looked up into his eyes and he looked down into mine.

"I'm sorry." He whispered.

His breath tickled my forehead and I blinked.

"For what?" I whispered.

"Everything,"

And get this- he kissed me.

**Well, how did THAT go?**

**And Sam is with Nudge. Sam is not going to be one of the bad guys in this chapter, although Grace might show some psychological problems. **

**Anyways, Thanks for the support again you guys, and please Review. **

**-Shift**


	11. Lock Down

**Wings-and-a-Fez: Cool name! and thanks again for the review. You should do more of the "WAYS TO KILL DYLAN" I loved it.**

**Jade Empress: Thanks for the constant reviews, I really appreciate it.**

**WaterfallOfJoy: Thank you so much, an author really loves it when their work is complimented on. Thanks a bunch!**

**OKAY, now without further ado,**

**I bring to you,**

**A new chapter.**

**Enjoy.**

* * *

><p>Never in my miserable 18 years of existence, has <em>anyone <em>ever kissed me.

Pathetic?

I know.

So you could pretty much guess how I reacted with Fang kissed me. Yep. I just freaking stood there like an idiot. He pulled away gently, and looked at me in the eyes.

"How did that feel?" he asked gently.

How did it make me feel? I felt like a freaking box of emotions exploded in my brain. I'm angry, and yet at the same time I feel like I'm floating on thin air. I'm so confused, and yet I feel like I've known Fang longer than I've known Mei. And lastly, I feel so out of place doing this, but it feels so right.

"What are you doing?" I asked in a defeated tone.

"What do you mean," he said leaning on my forehead.

"I feel so emotional right now, what is this?" I asked desperately.

I never felt so vulnerable and confused before. What was he doing to me?

"I think it's because you like me," he said breathing on my neck. My body went tense and I backed up against the wall, him trailing right after me. "And it's a good thing too, because I like you…a lot," he whispered.

This was wrong. This was _so _wrong on so many levels. I was supposed to hate him and his family. I was supposed to be planning his death in my head every second of the day. So why do I feel this way?

"Fang…you have to go," I said.

"Elizabeth-"

"No, please. Just go," I said turning away.

I felt his intense stare on my face, but I only moved so that I hid it more. I heard him make his way to the door, but he hesitated as he gripped the handle.

"Elizabeth…be careful," he said.

Then he was gone.

Without having any idea what to do, I locked the door behind him, and sprinted to Mei's room.

* * *

><p>"He kissed you?" she shrieked for the third time.<p>

I sighed and hugged the pillow closer to my chest.

"Yes he did," I said.

Mei looked at me warily.

"You didn't…you didn't flip him did you?" she asked.

I chuckled and folded my legs Indian style.

"No, I just stood there." I said frowning.

"This is bad…this is really bad," she stood up pacing the floor.

"I know what you mean." I groaned.

"No this is _really _bad Max. I mean, one kiss will lead to another, then another. Then the next thing you know you're dating! And then MARRIED! You're father will not only have you're head, but he will have mine for not keeping you in line-"

"You're sounding like Nudge more and more every day," I pointed out.

She flipped me the bird and went back to pacing.

"I don't even know why I was making such a big deal out of this. I'll just act like it never happened." I said.

"You can't ignore you're feelings like this Max," Mei said gently.

"Why not? You and I have been doing that for the past 12 years," I said.

"We'll we've never had this emotion before!" she exclaimed. "Plus that wouldn't be fair to Fang-"

"_Fair?" _I snarled. "What was _fair _about his father taking our family's life?" I screeched.

"What's not _fair, _is that you and your father seem to think that we need to kill everything in our path to get revenge, when we don't!" she screamed back.

"When you talk like that it makes you sound like you're about to go rouge…"I said

"Well maybe I am!" she shouted.

I stared at her with an open mouth. Did I except this? Not for a million years. Her glare softened and she sat down on her bed next to me. I looked straight forward, and she did the same.

"I'm not gonna go rogue," she said.

I stayed silent, and continued staring forward.

"But I don't agree with what we're doing Max," she said.

More silence.

"What difference would it make really, if we were to kill everyone?" she asked.

"An eye for an eye-"

"Makes the world blind." She said.

"Not the correct terminology I was going to use," I muttered.

She sighed and leaned back against the wall which the bed was pushed up against.

"I do want revenge. Just not the way we're doing it," she said.

"What do you propose we do?" I asked.

More silence.

"We kill the people who were only Saxons. Shut down Itex. And then leave." She said.

"That's it?" I asked. "that was the original plan-"

"No. Your original plan was to kill anyone who got in your way. Even if someone were to do that, we spare them unless they are part of the Saxons." She said.

Ok maybe that was my original plan.

"So what you're saying is, we spare their families and any nosy detectives that butt in?" I asked.

"Yes." She clarified.

"Why?" I asked.

"I wasn't lying about what I told you earlier. We should leave them without a family member so they feel what we felt when we were younger. Abandoned. Unloved. Vulnerable."

I sighed and ran a hand down my neck.

"Fine." I said.

Mei smiled and patted my shoulder.

"Now, what did you need to tell me? About Walter's wife?" she asked.

I hesitantly pulled out the photo that the detectives gave me of my bedroom. I handed it over to Mei and her brow furrowed as she took it in.

"No one knows who wrote it?" she asked.

"No, but they know I did something. But I can't tell what." I paused here, trying to find the words to form my next sentence. "I was the cause of a massacre downtown, and I also broke Ella and Nudge to pieces…physically. Which crime did he witness? Both?" I said slowly.

"I kind of figured it was you the moment I saw Ella's pink cast," she chuckled.

Her dark eyes locked on me.

"You're massacre…you have bloodlust don't you?"she asked.

I nodded and leaned back against the wall.

"Do you?" I asked.

"No…I just…brake anything I see in sight." She says.

I nodded and clutched her pillow tighter. Mei walked over to her nightstand, and pulled out the copy of the documents I gave her, along with a note pad and a pen.

"Alright, give me the names of all the Saxons." She said uncapping in.

Shuffling the papers, I read them out loud.

"Marian, Jeffrey, Walter, Christopher, Jackson, Brandon, John, Blake, Ash, Dylan, Jake, Tom, and Sebastian."

She was still scribbling, so I waited until she was done.

"Alright, now read the names of the people that you already killed," she said.

"Walter, Christopher, Brandon and Jake." I said.

"Okay, we know you took care of Walter with a gun. Now Christopher. That was Sam's father right?" she asked.

"Yeah,"

"And how did you kill him?" she asked.

"I broke into his bathroom window and strangled him with my hands. Then I slipped a poison down his lips, making sure it didn't touch his tongue," I answered.

"Ok. Now Brandon. Grace's father." She stated.

"Yes. I hit him with a car," I said.

She rolled her eyes and scribbled that down.

"And now Jake." She said.

"Kidnapped him while he was on his way to pick up his daughter from Preschool, then I shot him." I said.

More writing.

"Alright. So out of the 13, you've already killed 4. Leaving us with a total of 9 more people." She stated.

"Yeah. But I've driven by all of their houses and snuck in to memorize the floor plan. I drew each house and the blue prints," I said.

"Excellent. I was able to wire all their calls and computer emails to come directly to us and get sent to them at the same time. It seems like Marian and Jeffrey are about to take a business trip out to Washington for a month," she said.

I nodded and placed my hand on a document.

"Do you think that we should go after them first? Since they'll be leaving soon?" she asked.

"No. We save Marian for last, if you want to kill Jeffrey then go ahead. But I want Marian to be the last one," I said.

"Alight. But we have to be careful. New York must know already that all the people being killed are somehow attached to Itex. The Saxons will now be on high alert, if they noticed that 4 of their comrades are already dead," she warned.

"I agree. So where does that leave us?" I asked.

"if you want to save Marian for last, you should spare Jeffrey until then as well. Those two are best friends and the most deathly. We take care of them later. But I think we go for strongest out of the group and work our way down to the weakest," she said.

I nod in agreement and look at her.

"Who's the weakest?" I ask.

"Ash Lockwood." She said.

* * *

><p><strong>2 months later~<strong>

**NEW YORK HEADLINES**

_3 bodies were found dead in an abandoned warehouse located at the border of our lines. The three victims of this case were sent to our labs and tested for identity. Ash Lockwood, Blake Cosher, and Tom Sins._

I threw the newspaper across the room with an amused expression on my face. Father called monthly, expecting updates on our plan. The day the news was released of a massacre in New York, father called expressing his proud behavior for his two daughters.

That made Mei Na smile. She said she loved the feeling of getting to be called a daughter again. And I was happy because she was happy.

New York was in chaos. All because of two 18 year old girls. 1 happens to have bloodlust while the other breaks everything in her sight. Schools have been occasionally getting canceled and not only that, but military officers have done so much as to patrol the schools. Lock down drills were practiced every other day and before you enter the school gates, you and your car must pass through Weapon scanners.

Which made it almost impossible for Mei and I to bring any of our protection with us. So, we did was we had to, and just attended with nothing.

We walked down the hallways full of tense kids. It was weird seeing the school like this. Everyone was too scared to joke around, and the occasional bully bitch scene that went down every other day was not happening. The school was…dead. It was quiet and dead. Even the teachers were one edge. Having nervous break downs in the middle of a lesson and had to be escorted out by the military

I loved every second of it.

Mei knew it, and she elbowed me in the ribs every single time I was close to smirking.

She really does know me.

At lunch, everyone was glued to each other. No one wanted to be alone and we all sat close together. Even Iggy failed to remain calm, while Fang refused to look at me. Pft, like I care. Mei's softball practices were canceled because the coach was too scared.

At exactly 2:15 PM, the school bell rang, and each class was escorted out with 4 military officers posted on the rear, front, and sides. Mei and I walked calmly to my car and hopped in, driving out of the school gates.

"I feel so dead coming out of that place," Mei whispered.

"It's so depressing in that place, yet amusing." I said smirking.

Mei rolled her eyes and pulled on her seatbelt.

"So where are we going now?" she asked.

Due to the mysterious killings, and the strange amount of people that were missing from Itex, the entire city has been shut down. And when we say shut down, we mean that no one can get in, or out of New York. Which also mean that every block has a police car parked on the curb, and no one is allowed outside of their homes once it strikes 9 o'clock.

"I have no idea…but I feel so suffocated," I said.

"Me too…maybe we should go away for a while," Mei suggested.

"No way. Once I got here, things started to go haywire. And when you came here, the killings got worse. Once we leave and it gets peaceful again, people are gonna ask questions and be even more guarded once we get back," I said.

"So what do you propose we do?" she asked.

"We finish what we started,"

* * *

><p><strong>This chapter was sort of a drag...not to many things happened, but this is where Max and Mei Na start to have diffictulties with their job.<strong>

**I got the lockdown idea from the movie "I am Robot." **

**I would hate to live in a place where all my actions are controled. Where to park my car, when to go to sleep and stuff.**

**Well anyways, thats all I have for now.**

**Thanks for all the reviews guys! I really love it when it you guys review so thanks again!**

**-Shift**


	12. A Little Less Hate

**Thanks for the reviews guys, I really appreciate it.**

**SHOUTOUTS TO: Wings-and-a-Fez, Jade Empress, and WaterfallOfJoy**

* * *

><p>We waited. Days. Weeks. A full month came around and we hadn't murdered anyone. Slowly, the military left and things went back to normal. Police still patrolled the streets and kids still had to walk through the weapon scanner before entering the school.<p>

It was now winter break, and cold as hell. Father had been calling more recently now, asking when we'd begin our next move. We told them as soon as the military was narrowed down and we could catch all the Saxons together in one place.

The military has evacuated but we're still working on bringing together the Saxon's. Mei and I were curled up on our bed, with all our documents sprawled out before us, when there was a knock at our door. I looked at Mei and raised my eyebrows.

"You expecting someone?" she asked.

"No…are you?"she asked.

"Nope, So you know what this means right?" I asked.

Not answering y question, she reached over my nightstand and plucked out of the gun I had strapped under. She put it in her uggs while I grabbed a pocket knife and hit it in the sleeve of my jacket. Together, we stood up and walked to the front door. Mei looked through the peep hole and then looked back at me.

"It's the Jansen family," she said.

"All of them?" I whispered.

"Except Gazzy," she said.

Taking a deep breath, I nodded at her and she unlocked the door and opened it, stepping back.

"Hey!" Ella and Nudge gushed hugging Mei at once.

"Hey," Mei chuckled.

Ella and Nudge walked over to me…well…Nudge walked over with her crutches and they both hugged me.

"Hey guys," I said.

Marian and her husband Stephen walked in after their daughters.

"Mom dad, you already know Elizabeth," Nudge said. "And this is her cousin Tony," she said.

"It's nice to meet you," Tony said walking in for a hug. Then she hugged Stephen.

She's such a frickin actor. She should become a movie star instead…that is if we don't ever get caught.

"Hello dear it's nice to meet you," Marian said smiling. Stephen just nodded and smiled.

Marian and Stephen both turned to look at me at the same tie.

"It's nice to see you again Elizabeth." She smiled, but didn't move in for a hug.

"You too," I said.

"Uhm, this is my husband Stephen, Stephen this is Elizabeth and Tony," Marian said.

"Nice to meet you," we said together.

"Um, come in and have a seat," Mei said.

"Thank you," Stephan said sitting down.

"Can we offer you water? Or anything?" Mei asked.

"No sweetheart that won't be necessary, but thank you." She said.

We all sat down and Nudge and Ella looked really excited as soon as Marian pulled out a piece of paper from her purse.

"Okay so, every winter break, Iggy's family and our family drive out to Red Lodge Mountain Resort in Montana for skiing. We were going to cancel out trip this year but since the military has left, we all decided it'd be best if we went there to clear our minds up about this, everyone is pretty tensed up about the murderers and stuffs and-"

"Both of your families would like you to come with us, and here's the brochure for the cabin," Marian interrupted Nudge with an eye roll.

Mei took the brochure and opened it in front of me so that both of us could read it. On the right flap there was a picture of two snow mountains with three people skiing down, and on the left there was picture of a brown wooden cabin with snow on the roofs.

Underneath the pictures were prices of the cabin and the amount it costs.

"How long are you guys staying?" Mei asked.

"4 days, We're leaving tomorrow actually. Sorry for the short notice but it's the only 4 days that were left open," Marian said shrugging.

Mei and I looked at each other and I tried to read the message in her eyes.

"Waddya say?" she asked still gazing into my eyes.

"_You're call" _I said so softly I'm not even sure if she heard me.

She stared at me, before turning to look at Marian and her family and smiled.

"Sure, we'd love to come," she giggled.

"YES!" Nudge and Ella hissed.

"That's wonderful. Tony, you should go ask your parents before you do anything though," Marian said.

Instead of the angry pissed off teenage scene I expected Mei to pull off, she shocked me by smiling gently as if she was comforting a little toddler who got their first spanking.

"My family passed away when I was little. It's just me and Eli now," she said wrapping an arm around my shoulders.

I smiled and pushed her off, but she just moved closer and wrapped her arm around my shoulder again.

I looked at the Jansen family and I saw that they were gazing at us with the same expression that I've never seen before in my life. Admiration. Not pity.

And for this, I realized…I hated them less.

* * *

><p>The Walkers were thrilled that we were attending with them. I secretly think that Mei is actually becoming fond of the group. Does it bother me? Yes. Am I going to do anything about it? Yes, but not at the moment. Why? Because I was too busy dealing with Iggy and his stupid jokes.<p>

"Why did the chicken cross the -" he asked.

"Finish that sentence and you'll be riding the rest of the way strapped to the roof," I threatened.

Iggy from the back seat pouted, but stayed silent. Fang snickered at him and Mei rolled her eyes from the passenger seat. You may be wondering why their riding with us right? Well because all the luggage was loaded into the Walkers car while the Jansen's tried to fit in the rest of the kids. Unfortunately, the two testosterone idiots in the back couldn't fit and they had to ride with us.

We rode in silence, that is until Mei switched on the radio. Mei can sing, I'll tell you that. But the songs she chooses to sing are just ridiculous.

_Boy you got my heartbeat runnin' away  
>Beating like a drum and it's coming your way<br>Can't you hear that boom, badoom, boom, boom, badoom, boom, bass  
>Yeah that's that super bass<em>

"Seriously?" I looked at her.

"What it's catchy!" she said.

"Next station," I said.

"Fine, fine" I said.

"Oh I love this one!" she said turning the dial.

_Sweet sweet fantasy baby  
>When I close my eyes<br>You come and take me  
>On and on and on<br>It's so deep in my daydreams  
>But it's just a sweet sweet fantasy baby<em>

"Okay, let's just ride in silence," I said turning off the radio.

* * *

><p>When we reached the resort, we all helped unload the bags. I walked a few corners and walked into a bathroom and saw the gigantic hot tub in the middle of the room, with rose pedals in the water. Smirking, I walked in and picked up a rose pedal. I sniffed it and smiled at the sweet scent. I placed the rose pedal gently back in the water and walked upstairs to the bedrooms.<p>

There was about 7 bedrooms. Each bedroom had a king size bed in the middle with a nightstand on the left side. The windows were shut tight, and you could see people skiing from here. I walked downstairs to the dining room where everyone was gathered. I walked over to stand by Nudge.

"Alright everyone, time to divide the rooms," Marian said.

"I already know that Anne, Angel and I will share a room, so we'll see you guys at dinner," Jeffrey said.

Angel skipped upstairs clutching her teddy bear, while Anne and Jeffrey grabbed their luggage.

"Alright, and Stephen and I will share a room. So that's 5 rooms left to divide among 7 teenagers…" she sighed and looked at Ella.

"I'm too old for this. You guys divide up like _civilized _people-"

"I CALL THE ROOM WITH THE TV!" Iggy shouted racing upstairs.

"No you don't!" Gazzy said chasing after Iggy.

I rolled my eyes and picked up my suitcase.

"I'll share a room with Tony," I said walking upstairs.

I heard Mei pick her suitcase up and follow me up the stairs. When we passed the room Iggy and Gazzy were fighting over, a pillow was flown across the room and hit me in the face. Mei giggled and Iggy and Gazzy shared a look of terror.

"You're gonna regret that," I said walking in.

I shut the door behind me, and stalked towards them slowly.

"Elizabeth!" I heard Jeffrey call.

"yes?" I called sweetly.

I continued to walk towards the boys, a pillow in my left hand.

"Don't rough 'em up too much," he chuckled from behind the door.

I smirked at that and looked at the boys. I lunged at Gazzy, who at the last minute ducked behind Iggy. Iggy got a face full of pillow and flew back behind the bed. Gazzy ran around the bed and had a hand on the doorknob, but I took off my shoe, and flung it at his hand. He pulled away like the knob burned him, and I leaped on him, throwing him back.

I put him in a headlock, and starting laughing madly, that is until Iggy got up with two pillows. His smile was sick and sly like he just robbed a bank and got away with it. He crossed the room and raised his left hand to strike with the pillow, but I pushed Gazzy at him and they both fell over the bed.

Giggling, I walked out and went to the room next door.

"You didn't kill them yet did you?" Mei asked.

"Oh whatever, we're just having fun," I said.

Mei gasped from behind me and I whirled around to face her.

"What?" I asked.

"Maximum Ride…_The _Maximum Ride is having…_fun? _Somebody call the mental hospital!" she said laughing.

"Oh shut up, I can be fun when I want too," I hissed.

"Yes, but your idea of fun is hanging someone off the empire state building," she whispered.

"What's the difference?" I asked.

Mei sighed and walked over to the closet.

"You're hopeless."

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><p><strong>What do ya think?<strong>

**REVIEW PLEASE!**

**-Shift**


	13. I Care

**Wings-and-a-Fez: The answers will soon be revealed my loyal friend. This story won't have that much chapters compared to other stories, because I've decided to do a lot of time skipping, and making the chapters more longer. **

**Jade Empress: Don't worry, all the good gory stuff is soon to come ;)**

**WaterfallOfJoy: Haha thanks for the idea! I will most definetly do that!**

**Okay guys, since it is the 13th chapter, and my story's title is, "Lucky Number 13", this chapter has a lot of things that each and every one of us like.**

**that's right, FAX.**

**Thanks for the reviews, Enjoy.**

* * *

><p>"Kids! Dinners ready!" Marian shouted.<p>

Mei and I stood up, and walked downstairs. Iggy and Fang were already down there, wrestling over a piece of chicken.

"Boys stop! There's plenty to go around," Anne scolded.

Fang dropped the chicken with an eye roll, and Iggy pounded on it like it was a mouse. Mei giggled and I moved around the table to where Ella was scooping rice on her plate.

"So immature," I said rolling my eyes.

"Oh like your one to talk," she said smirking.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked.

"We all heard you guys wrestling upstairs," she giggled.

I rolled my eyes and grabbed a paper plate, piling it high with chicken and mashed potatoes.

"So have you ever been skiing before?" Ella asked.

"Well…if you count falling down a snow mountain as skiing then yes, yes I have," I said.

Ella laughed and handed me a soda. I sat down on the couch on the left of Mei and Ella said to my left. Truth be told, I was a skiing beast. Part of my training was to live in different temperatures, and father made me live on the tip of Mount Everest for 2 weeks, I had to do something to keep me entertained.

"Iggy did you bring your skis'?" Anne asked sitting on the recliner.

"Yeah, I left 'em on the shed outside," Iggy said.

"What about you Fang?" she asked.

"Yeah, left 'em by Iggy's," he said sitting next to Iggy on the floor.

"Okay, I don't think Angel wants to ski, so she'll stay with me, Nudge and Ella in the cabin," Anne said.

"It's okay Anne, I'm gonna go watch," Ella said.

"Lucky, at least you can walk there," Nudge said gesturing at her cast.

I frowned at her cast. It's already been about 3 months.

"When do you get it off?" I asked quietly.

"The ligament wasn't broken, it was just snapped a little out of place, so the doctors said by the end of next month," she said.

For some reason, I felt _guilty _looking at their casts. Ella and Nudge were adjusting their life styles, but no matter what, there was the small pang of guilt that exploded into my heart every time I saw them. Why though? Why do I feel this way all the time? I feel so…emotional whenever I'm near these people. What are they doing to me?

"Elizabeth!" Mei shouted.

I snapped my head to look up at her, and realized that everyone was staring at me. I looked at Mei and she was eyeing me with curiosity.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

I looked down at my half eaten chicken and gulped. I stood up and placed my plate gently down on the coffee table.

"Yeah, I'm just a little tired, I'm gonna go to sleep early. Night everyone," I said quietly.

"Night," they said hesitantly.

I walked up the stairs and opened the door, stepping in quietly. Sighing, I went to the bed and laid down, and went to sleep.

Mei's POV-

Everyone watched as Max walked up the stairs to her room. Fang looked at me.

"Is she okay?" he asked.

I sighed and placed my food down next to hers.

"Yeah but today…it was the day her family died," I lied smoothly.

The _real _date was in exactly 2 months and three days, but was I going to let them know this? No.

"Oh the poor thing…" Anne said.

I tried to keep my anger under control. Max was not a _thing _and she did not need anyone's sympathy or apologies. Nudge and Ella looked down at their plates, and sighed.

"I don't really have much of an appetite anymore," Ella said.

"Yeah me too," Nudge said crossed her left arm over her cast.

"I'm gonna go check on her," Fang said.

"Fang!" I called after him.

He stopped and turned to look at me.

"What?" he said.

"That may not be the best thing to do right now. She has…her own way of dealing with things," I said.

"We can't just leave her to sob her heart out, someone needs to help her move on," he said angrily.

"And you tend to be that person?" I asked calmly.

Iggy snickered and gave Fang a pointed look which Fang responded by giving him the bird.

"Fang," Anne warned.

"Yes. I do," Fang said.

I stood up, crossed my arms over my chest, and stalked towards Fang. We stood toe to toe, and I looked into his black eyes, examining them. I walked in circles around him and examined the width of his shoulders, the broadness of his chest and the size of his biceps. He actually was incredibly handsome and athletic, but he was not really my type. More of Max's type. Although, Max has been dealing with some serious doubt issues.

"Fine." I said completing my fifth circle. "But if you come out with only one of your arms, don't say I didn't warn you." I said sitting down.

Fang looked nervous for a second, but he brushed off my warning and trudging upstairs. I had no doubt in mind though, that Fang would be in deep shit if he said the wrong things.

Max's POV-

I was having another nightmare.

Ari and Mom were on a beach, laughing and splashing each other. When they caught sight of me, they waved me over. Laughing, I sprinted towards them and pushed Ari around.

"Max stop!" he laughed.

"Surrender?" I said picking him up.

"Yes!" he said hugging me.

I laughed and twirled him around in circles. All of a sudden, an ear splitting scream rang through my ears. I whirled around with Ari still held to my chest. Mom was being held a gunpoint by no one other that Marian. I put Ari down and gripped his hand tightly.

"Marian let her go!" I shouted.

"I'll pass," she said smiling.

And without a second glance at my mom, she pulled the trigger.

"NO! MOM!" I screamed racing over.

Marian danced out of my reach and suddenly disappeared out of nowhere.

"MOM!" I cried kneeling beside her.

"Max…" she moaned.

"Mom," I sobbed.

"Protect Ari…"she whispered.

My eyes whirled on Ari, who was also being held at gun point.

"Max!" he sobbed.

I looked up at Ari's captor. Jeffrey. I looked at him with pleading eyes.

"Please Jeffrey. Don't take him away from me." I said.

Jeffrey said nothing, but smirked. And my heart stopped. That smirk. It was _Fang's. _Gasping, I stumbled backwards right into Marian's arms. I struggled and kicked to get out, but she held my shoulders down in a tight grip.

"Watch," she hissed.

Everything played out in slow motion. Jeffrey's finger moved towards the trigger, and his eyes looked straight into mine, when he pulled the trigger. I looked at Ari. His eyes were small and scared, but his smile at me, was reassuring and strong.

"Max," Ari whispered.

"NO! ARI! MOM! NOOO!" I screamed.

"MAX!"

I jerked awake from bed and clutched my hand over my heart. My face was wet with sweat but my body was hot from the heat of the covers. Strong arms wrapped around my shoulders, but I was too tired to fight my capturer off. When I realized the person wasn't trying to hurt me, I looked up.

Fang.

"What are you doing?" I croaked.

"It's called comforting." He said.

He moved around from behind me and sat next to me on the bed.

"You were screaming in your sleep," he stated.

"Bad dream," I said shuttering.

"What about?" he asked.

"My family," I said.

He was silent for a moment, but the next set of words he spoke, surprised me. Not only because of the length of his speech, but because of the sincerity of his voice.

"I don't know what it's like to lose any family members, so I won't tell you that I understand, because I don't…but I do understand what it feels like to be broken. Take now for instance. When you crying in your sleep, I felt my heart shatter to pieces," he said.

I looked up at him through the bangs off my hair, which he pushed out of the way.

"You have pretty eyes…you shouldn't hide them," he said.

_I'll do whatever I want with my body, whenever I want. _

That's what I wanted to say, but my tongue wouldn't co-operate. So instead, I just stared at Fang, like really took a good look at him. And I came to a realization, his eyes weren't faking the concern and worry for me. He actually cared about me.

And here I am, trying to kill his father.

Guilt and anger washed over me. Why now? Why him? Why must I feel this way around him?

"Why- why are you so nice to me?" I asked.

I wasn't concerned about the way my voice was so weak, or the way my eyes were full of emotion. I was only concerned about getting the answers out of me.

"because I care," he said.

"I don't know what that feels like," I admitted.

"To have someone care for you?" he asked frowning.

"No…" I said looking down at my hands.

These two hands have so much blood upon them that it's honestly the most monstrous thing that was ever created.

"I don't know how it feels…to care about someone," I said frowning.

Fang tilted my chin up with his fingers.

"You can try on me," he whispered.

"but…you'll get hurt," I said.

I didn't want to lie anymore. I didn't want to deceive him anymore. I finally had someone who cared about me this way, and I wasn't going to lose him. I wasn't going to lie to him anymore.

"As long as you're with me…its worth it." He said moving closer.

I was moving closer too, but I didn't realize it. Our noses were brushing against each other, and my forehead was pressed against his.

"Fang…you're gonna get hurt. So badly." I said sadly.

He looked into my eyes for a long time.

"Like I said." He paused. "You're worth it,"

And when we kissed, none of my movements were forced.

* * *

><p><strong>Aww! Okay, not that much Fax as I made it sound, but come on. This is a major improvement from the last time he kissed her right?<strong>

**Thanks for the reviews guys.**

**-Shift**


	14. Hurt

**Dudes, the email that I set this account up with, was totaly forgoten about. I didn't check gmail for a while.**

**But when I did, I was amazed.**

**Not by the amount of facebook notifcations there were, although that was amazing, but by the amount of people that put me on 'Author Alerts, Story Alerts and FAVORITE STORIES' **

**I never really checked em until now, but I really am amazed. Thank you to all the people who favorited to me and my story, I really appreciate it.**

**And I'm sorry that you guys didn't get shout outs earlier, but you know what? It's all my fault because I didn't check my email.**

**So here are all the real shoutouts to the people I owe them too.**

**Wings-and-a-Fiz, Jade Empress, HeAt-StRoKe, Coniglio13, Petemidniight13, A Guy Named George, LivieLi, and WaterfallOfJoy**

**Please, if I missed your name let me know! **

**Thanks guys so much. I really appreciate it.**

**Enjoy.**

* * *

><p>To say that things were heated, would be an understatement. In the end, Fang ended up pushing me against the wall, trapping me between his arms. His lips never left mine. I locked my fingers together around his neck, pulling him closer and closer to me, hating the little distance that was between us.<p>

Just when things were finally looking good for me, there was knock at the door. I sprang away from Fang, and looked at him, breathing deeply. He stared back at me for a while, and then a huge grin slid on his face.

I snarled at him, but the grin only widened.

"I meant what I said Fang," I said getting serious. "We can't work, because in the end, you'll get hurt" I paused. "And I am not worth it," I said walking to the door.

I pulled it open to reveal a very smug looking Mei. And just like that, I knew that she knew what had just happened before she knocked. Glaring at her, I stepped to the side as she shuffled in and walked to her closet.

"Don't mind me you two love birds," she said digging through her duffel bags. "I'm just here to grab a toothbrush," she said pulling it out. Then just as fast as she got here, she was gone.

"Elizabeth," Fang said from behind me.

I turned around to face him, crossing my hands over my chest.

"Why do you keep saying that?" he asked.

"Saying what?" I asked.

"That I'll get hurt," he said standing.

"Because you will. Even if this little relationship between us works, it will never be safe," I said.

"Why? Who's making it unsafe for us Elizabeth?" he whispered gently.

_YOU! _I wanted to scream.

"It's complicated," I sighed.

"I'm a good puzzle solver. Elizabeth…you can tell me anything." He said.

No I can't.

"I know," I sighed.

"Elizabeth?"

"What?" I sighed.

"Why can't you smile?" he asked.

"_What a strange question_," I thought.

"Uhm what?" I asked.

"Whenever you smile, it looks fake and forced. I've only seen you smile once, for real, and you're always around Tony," he said.

"I fail to see how this is important," I said.

"It's very important Elizabeth," Fang snapped.

Ok, in my time of knowing Fang, I've never seen him snap at anyone except his brother. So his anger was pretty surprising.

"Why?" I asked.

"Because you're so sad," he said frowning. "You look so dead and miserable, and I know you put up a mask to hide it from the rest of them," he said.

We spent a while just staring at each other. I was trying to figure out his motivations behind his friendliness, but I got nothing.

"I don't want you to be sad anymore Elizabeth," Fang said.

I didn't even notice that with each word he said, he took a step closer to me. And now, I was pinned against the wall, Fang surrounding me all over.

"Elizabeth…"

"What do you want from me?" I asked.

"I want you to be happy," he said.

A sudden idea flashed before me. It was heartless, and cold, but it was the only way.

"If that's what you want, then you'll leave me alone," I said coldly.

He looked down at me like I had just stabbed him the heart. I might as well have. That was uncalled for, and dirty.

"You can't be serious," he said looking sad.

My heart cracked a little, but I ignored it. Hey, I'm used to it.

"I'm dead serious. Get out of my room, and leave me alone." I said.

"Not after- I mean you kissed-"

"Because I felt bad for you," I said.

The hurt in his eyes was obvious, and he wasn't even trying to hide it. That's how I knew how bad it stung, because he wasn't even bothering to cover it up.

"I told you…you're gonna get hurt," I said coldly.

"But I never thought it would be you doing it," he said tonelessly.

Then he left. Fang finally saw me for what I really was. A cold, heartless, uncaring bitch.

And not only did I hate myself for showing him, but I hated him even more for making me do it.

"First one to the botto

* * *

><p>m is a rotten egg!" Iggy shouted.<p>

I smirked at him and watched as he pushed off with his poles and raced down the hill. Fang emotionlessly followed after and Gazzy was neck and neck with Iggy. I pulled up my watch up to my face and pressed the button on the side.

**(A/N: Get ready for it WaterfallOfJoy, cause here it comes!)**

As soon as I pushed it, Gazzy and Iggy flew off of their ski's and landed face first into the snow. I fell off my own pair of skis' and rolled over the snow, laughing hard. Mei wobbled over to me and pointed a pole at my watch.

"You activated a time bomb didn't you?" she asked smirking.

"Yeah, but I replaced the gas with nails. And they shot up, making the ski's unstable, thus resulting in a face plant," I said laughing.

"What's wrong?" she asked her brow furrowing.

I frowned at her and cocked my head, while standing up.

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"Your laugh. Iggy and Gazzy just got hurt, and your laugh is forced," she said.

I sighed and leaned against my two poles. I knew it was useless to lie to Mei, she'd keep pestering me about it until I finally cracked.

"it's Fang…Mei I…I think I like him," I said quietly.

"Oh Max…" she said sympathetically.

"I know. What am I supposed to do?" I cried sinking to my knees.

"Max…I know you probably won't like what I have to say…" she started. "but we need to finish quickly so that you can get away," she said kneeling next to me.

"You'd do that?" I asked.

"I'd do anything, you're my sister after all," she said smiling.

I smiled back and stood up, using my poles for guidance.

"So, we finish what was started as soon as we get back, and then we set off for China," she said.

"But Mei-"

"Their anniversary is in 2 months. We owe them all a visit to their graves. Especially Juan Lan," Mei said.

We stared at a each other for a long time. Then, robotically a smug smile came upon my face.

"Do you think you could finish in 2 months?" I asked.

"That's what I should be asking you," she said sliding down the hill.

And so, we spent the rest of our day skiing down the hills, racing and challenging each other like normal sisters. For a moment, I believed that everything was going to be okay.

But this is my life right?

So of course, as I reached the bottom of the hill in victory, a loud scream shattered my bubble of happiness.

Not that it was that big anyway.

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><p><strong>With all the AN, I'm making this chapter look a lot longer than it actually is...<strong>

**Well, anyways...**

**REVIEW PLEASE!**

**-Shift**


	15. Who The Hell!

**Shoutouts to the same people as always! I'm so sorry, but I'll pace your name in another chapter. **

**My apologies.**

**Enjoy.**

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><p>With my highly trained eye sight, I whirled around and tried to locate the source of the cry. From the cornbers of my eye, I saw Fang do the same thing. When I looked up further, I noticed the problem.<p>

Mei was gone.

My eyes widened at the realization. I took off my ski's and threw my poles on the side which left me only in my socks.

"Elizabeth are you crazy?" Fang shouted.

_Yes, yes I am_

Without another glance at the boys, I ran up the hill.

What? Did you expect me to wait for that stupid machine to come down and have me tour the mountain? Uhm no thank you, I'd rather get hypothermia searching for Mei then waiting on a stupid contraption.

And because Iggy and Fang were too scared to take their ski's off, and they can't ride uphill, they waited. I was already half way up the hill when I saw it.

Mei getting kidnapped into a black van.

I sprinted up towards the van, but I was sinking deep into the snow.

"TONY!" I screamed.

"ELIZABETH! RUN! LEAVE!" She screamed.

_No. I'm not running anymore._

I gritted my teeth through the blistering feeling that seeped through my socks and pant legs. Mei was putting up one hell of a fight. When she saw I wasn't leaving, she tried to stall for more time. Her arm was getting crushed by the door because she refused to pull it in. Her agonized cries were ear splitting and people started to notice.

I finally made it to the van. I jumped at the first man who came at me with a knife, and kicked it out of his hand. It flew down the edge of the cliff and I round housed his face, making him fall too. Two more men came towards me and I ducked under ones arm as he tried to decapitate me with a knife. I hit him under his knee and he sank to the ground. While he was on his knees, I kicked him straight in the face, knocking him out.

The last man standing had snuck behind me and kicked my back. I face planted into the snow next to Mei who was quivering in pain. Her arm was bent in very strange directions. I quickly hopped to my feet, ignoring the nausea that set in. Bracing my foot against the pile of ice I was on, I leaped into the air and did a spinning scissors kick, snapping his neck in half.

"TONY!" I screamed racing over.

"Fang and Iggy are behind you," she whispered.

I whirled around to face a shocked Fang and an even more shocked Iggy.

"How did you-" Fang was cut off by an over exited Iggy.

"That was AWESOME! Do it again! How did you learn to do that?" he asked.

They both looked down at Mei at the same time and their eyes widened with worry.

"Tony! Oh my gosh are you alright?" they said.

"Help me get her into the car, I need to drive this down to the cabin, now!" I ordered.

Both boys quickly grabbed one of Mei's arms, but Iggy shrank back when she hollered in pain.

"Tony, it's okay. It'll all be over soon," I said starting the ignition.

Fang and Iggy climbed into the back of the car trying to calm Mei down while I sped down the hill. Was I afraid that the car would tip over? Hell yeah. Did it though? Hell no.

Thankfully.

When we reached the bottom, Jeffrey and Stephen were sitting on the porch. They looked at the van with confusion but when Iggy and Fang came out, pointing at the unconscious Mei, both men raced over. Jeffrey took Mei into his arms and carried her bridal style. I stiffened automatically, but raced to the front door and kicked it open.

I ran around the corner and yanked out a clean warm blanket from the hallway closet. Jeffrey came through the cabin doors with the rest of them trailing behind, asking questions. I cleared the kitchen table with a swift motion of my hand, and laid the blanket down lightly.

"Will someone please tell me what happened?" I heard Marian shout.

I blocked out the rest of the noise and focused only on Mei's face. My feet were about to fall off because they were frozen, but I ignored the pain and rubbed circled into Mei's cheeks, trying to warm her up. Her arm was still twitching violently, and I realized that was the source of her pain. Her arm was total dislocated in different places.

I looked at her closed eyes, and breathed in a deep breath. I gripped her forearm tightly, and she cried out.

"Elizabeth what are you doing?" Iggy screamed.

With a swift motion, I jerked it to the right, snapping her shoulder back into place. Jeffery and Marian went over to the other side of the table and started rubbing circles into her head and legs, just as I was doing earlier.

I gripped her wrist in my left hand jerked it up and to the left, locking it back into place.

Mei's eyes were fully open now, staring at me with such intensity I felt like I was going to pass out. I gripped her middle finger between my own and snapped it three times to the left. When her arm was fully snapped back in place, and when she was warm with a hot chocolate, the questions were fired.

"What was that?"

"Are you okay?"

"What happened?

"Who were those guys?"

"A person did this to you?"

"What were their names?"

"EVERYBODY QUIET!" I shouted.

Everyone became silent, and I looked at Mei. The look in her eyes were saying that she wouldn't talk about it front of them. But I needed to know, so instead, I asked her in our home language. Chinese.

"Nǐ dàodǐ fāshēng le ne?" I asked. _What the hell happened up there?_

"What did she say?" Iggy asked.

"I don't know!" Ella cried.

Mei looked at me once before shaking her head. I repeated the question.

Mei stood up and looked at me like I was stupid. She glared at me.

"Wǒ bù zhīdào! Wǒ huáxuě xiàshān zhīhòu nǐ, ránhòu tāmen zǒu liǎo chūlái wú chù! Nǐ wèishéme bù pǎo shí, wǒ gàosu nǐ pǎo? Wèishéme nǐ zhǐ zài nǐ de wàzi? Nín kěnéng yǐjīng sǐwáng yúchǔn! Yǒu shé me shì gēn nǐ?" she shouted.

(Translation: _I don't know! I was skiing down the hill right after you and then they came out of nowhere! Why didn't you run when I told you to run? Why were you only in your socks? You could have died stupid! What's the matter with you?)_

I stood up and pushed her gently back down onto the couch where she fell beside Nudge and Ella. I didn't per say yell, but scream was the best answer as to how I said my speech.

"Shénme shì gēn wǒ? Wǒ yǒu yī ge xīnlǐ xiōngshǒu zuòwéi fùqīn, wǒ yǐjīng ài shàng le biérén, wǒ yīnggāi shā le, wǒ zuì hǎo de péngyǒu chàdiǎn bèi bǎngjià le, wǒ jīhū sǐ yú tǐwēn guò dī! Shénme shì méiyǒu wèntí de wǒ? Ér nǐ bù yìng gāi bèi greateful wǒ jiùchū nǐ?" I screamed.

(Translation: _What's the matter with me? I've got a psycho murderer as a father, I've fallen in love with someone I'm supposed to kill, my best friend almost got kidnapped, and I almost died from hypothermia! What isn't the matter with me? And shouldn't you be grateful that I rescued you?)_

"Tán guò liànài? Nǐ fēng le ma? Děngdài shì nǐ de. Ér zuòwéi yīgè wèntí de shìshí, wǒ yǒngyuǎn gǎnjī, dàn bùyào shěmìng wèi wǒ. Nǐ xūyào wánchéng shénme wǒ bùnéng, fǎnzhī yì rán. Wǒ shì yīgè dà de nǚhái, wǒ kěyǐ zìjǐ chǔlǐ." she said.

_(_Translation: _Fallen in love?_ _Are you crazy? wait yes you are. And as a matter of fact, I am eternally grateful, but don't risk your life for me. You need to finish what I can't and vise versa. I'm a big girl I can handle myself.)_

"Shì de! Wǒ fēng le! Dànshì, bùyào guàiwǒ wèi zhǎoxún péngyǒu hǎo ma? Nǐ shì wǒ wéi yī de jiārén, wǒ yǐjīng líkāi." I said standing up.

(Translation: _Yes! I'm crazy! But don't blame me for looking out for a friend alright? You're my only family I have left.)_

"Hǎo! Dàn wǒ rènwéi nǐ yīnggāi zhàogù tāmen. Tāmen dōu kàn zhe wǒmen jiù xiàng wǒmen cóng yīgè bùtóng de xīngqiú." Mei sighed leaning against the sofa.

(Translation: _Fine! But I think you should take care of them. They are all looking at us like we're from a different planet.)_

I looked at the others to find them watching us with curiosity. I tiredly flopped down against the recliner and kicked the foot rest up.

"What did she say?" Iggy piped up.

"You don't want to know," I groaned.

"Yes we do," Marian said standing.

Mei and I looked at her with raised eyebrows.

"You're going to tell us whatever you just said. Explain yourself now young lady," she said sternly.

"Oh yeah, I never did get the reason," I said turning to Mei.

"Shuí shì zhèxiē rén? Nǐ rènshi dào qízhōng de rènhé? Nándào tāmen shuō shénme ma?"I asked her.

(Translation: _Who were those men? Did you recognize any of them? Did they say anything to you?)_

"Hào, tāmen zhǐshì shuō, tāmen de gōngzuò duì nǐ de fùqīn" she said.

(Transation: _No. They only said that they worked for your father.)_

"Fùqīn?" _Father?_

"Shì de. Wǒmen yào líkāi jīn wǎn hǎo ma? Gàosu tāmen piàn rén de ba, shuō wǒmen bìxū líkāi. Bùyào ràng tā míngxiǎn, dàn wǒmen xūyào líkāi" she ordered.

_(_Translation: _Yes. We should leave tonight alright? Tell them a lie about it, and say that we have to leave. Don't make it obvious that we need to leave though.)_

* * *

><p>The others didn't think we should leave. But after much ignoring, they left the matter alone and walked us out to the car.<p>

"Where will you go?" Marian asked.

"An old friend of ours," I lied stuffing a suitcase in the backseat.

"Does he know your coming?"

"Yeah," Mei answered unlocking the door.

"Is your phone charged? We want you to call us in case something happens." Anne said.

Mei and I shared a look. Since when were they so motherly? The Jansen and Walker family stood of to the side and looked at us with concerned expressions. But as usual, Fang's wall was built up, giving me a stone wall.

"Bye," I called out sliding into the passenger seat.

"Be safe!" Marian shouted.

I cranked the ignition on, and stomped my foot hard on the gas pedal.

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><p><strong>I feel bad about the stupid translation thing. I'm sorry guys, but I couldn're resist using Google Translate. It's so much fun! <strong>

**I'm honestly deranged in the head. **

**Forget everything I just said.**

**Anyways, **

**REVIEW PLEASE!**


	16. Late Night Store Trips

**This chapter is about a day late. My bad guys.**

**Anyways thanks to one of newer viewers, WORMoverBOOK for reviewing!**

**WaterfallOfJoy- Thanks for the ideas, I'll jot 'em down and see where I end up with the story.**

**HeAt-StRokE- Haha I absolutely adore Google translate! It's really fun to hear things in german and french, lol. BTW, thanks so much for reviewing and reading all this time, it really means a lot to me.**

**The Jade Empress- Thanks! I was sort of just messing around with Google Translate when I just decided to use it in my story.**

**WORMoverBOOK- haha thanks,thats what I was aiming for. And I would too, except I will admit I don't think I could be that strong, the way I write Max to be. Almost never giving a damn about anything. I don't think I could do that, I'd probably be in a very pathetic rolled up position, crying my eyes out :P**

**Wings-and-a-Fez- The faxness will be exploding in another few chapters, just you wait ;)**

**SHOUTOUTS TO: ****Wings-and-a-Fiz, Jade Empress, HeAt-StRoKe, Coniglio13, Petemidniight13, A Guy Named George, LivieLi, WaterfallOfJoy and WORMoverBOOK**

**Enjoy this chapter guys!**

* * *

><p>When we got home, it was a wreck. The couch was tipped over, the windows were punched out, and the mini chandelier that was hanging in the living room was nothing but a pile of glass.<p>

" I'm so confused." I said.

"So am I," she said.

"Let's try to chart down our thoughts, just like father taught us when we're in distress okay?" I said sitting on the floor.

"Alright you start," she said.

"There's another person in this city that wants to kill the Saxons," I said.

"There's a person who knows about a crime you committed." She said.

"Father sent people to kidnap you," I said.

"42 people are still missing from Itex," she said

"Someone keeps wrecking my home," I said.

"We have 5 more people to kill," she said.

"We have to do it at once so that the military doesn't have a chance to catch us," I said.

"So basically," she said.

"We're screwed" I finished.

* * *

><p>Marian and Anne would not stop calling. After about the third conversation we had with them, we stopped answering. Which of course led to more and more phone calls. And you know what was the best thing? They had called us about 50 times in the same hour.<p>

And we weren't even at home for more than three.

As soon as Mei and I had planned out what we were going to do, we took off to the local hardware store, leaving our apartment trashed.

"Can I drive?" Mei asked.

"Sure," I said throwing her the keys.

I hopped into the passenger seat and briefly pulled on my seatbelt, and she did the same. Without a second glance back, she sped off into the city.

* * *

><p>Marian started pacing.<p>

She didn't like the fact that two teenage girls were alone in the same city that serial killer was set loose in. She also didn't like the fact that one of them almost got kidnapped, and was already on her feet. How had that happened?

"Mom, have they answered?" Ella asked Marian.

"No," Marian said walking faster.

"Maybe she's in a no service zone," Nudge chimed in.

Ella threw her sister a little irritated look.

"It's New York. The only no service zone is in the sewers," she said.

"Whatever, just giving you possibilities," Nudge said.

"Do they have a house phone?" Fang asked from the recliner.

"No," Ella replied.

"Everyone stop worrying. The girls are both 18 and they are perfectly able of protecting themselves," Stephen said walking into the room.

"Yeah, Stephen's right. Everyone calm down, girls try to call one last time and if she doesn't answer, then forget it," Marian said.

Ella took the cell phone and walked on her crutches over to the windows were she made her call. Marian went to sit next to Stephen, her second husband.

No one knew (except for Jeffrey of course) that Stephen wasn't Marian's first husband, but what was Marian supposed to tell them? Everyone, Stephen is not you're my husband, my real husband was killed in a mission that Itex sent us on.

Oh yeah, like that would blow over well.

Stephen flicked the channels until he got to the New York news center.

"The serial killer strikes again!" was the headline rolling across the television.

Stephen and Marian stiffened. Anne gasped and sat up straighter, while Fang crawled over to the television and turned up the volume.

"-the 42 people that were missing from Itex's about 4 months ago have been found.-"

Jeffrey and Marian shared a look. The 42 people were done with their tests? Already?

* * *

><p>Mei and I walked through Best Buy's camera section.<p>

"Remind me why we're buying cameras?" I asked picking a box up.

"We're trying to eliminate the problems we have. We actually should have done this the day that you moved in, but we need to set up at least some type of surveillance." She said.

She pointed at a small, rectangular red one with a gigantic lens sticking out. I rolled my eyes and gave her an annoyed look.

"We're trying to hide the camera, not make it scream '_Look at me!'"_

"It was just a suggestion," she said smiling.

A young man walked in and went straight for the laptops. Other than the man and the workers, it was only us. The man flipped up a computer screen and plopped down on the seat, pushing in an SD card into the side slot.

I looked away and looked up at the cash register. Two of the workers were on duty. I looked at the escalators that went upstairs to the televisions. It was completely deserted.

"Mei," I hissed.

"What is it?" she asked.

"It's so…quiet..."I observed.

"Well it is about 11:34 at night," she pointed out picking up a small camera.

"Even so…"I said.

"Ooh look at the one!" she said.

She rushed off behind the corner and started reading the back of the box for more details. I took another look at the escalator, and then down at the two knocked out workers. Shrugging, I started to walk after Mei. The hairs on the back of my neck pricked up, and I whirled around.

There was nothing there.

I searched again, this time looking for that man that was at the laptops.

He was gone.

And I don't remember the door chiming open.

I was on high alert, and I tried to walk back to where I last saw Mei. She was gone. I started sprinting around the corners, trying to see if she was there.

"Looking for someone?" a voice from behind me said.

I whirled around and backed up at the same time. It was the man.

"Yeah," I said turning back around.

"Was it that girl you were with?" he asked.

_No shit, who else would I be looking for?_

"Yes," I said turning another corner.

"Would you like help?" he asked.

"If you have spare time," I said running down the halls.

I was about to give up searching and go check if the two cashiers could do a public announcement thing, but then her scream made me freeze. Recalculating the sound, I sprinted towards its source.

"MEI!" I shouted.

"MAX, WE GOT TROUBLE!" she shouted from somewhere.

When the first gunshot went off, two screams were piercing the air. I quickened my sprint. When I turned the corner, 4 guys were ganging up on Mei. One of those 4 happened to be the man I saw earlier.

Little bitch was trying to stall me.

With a ferocious cry, I leapt onto somebody's back, gripping their neck in my two hands. With a swift motion, I jerked it to the left, and jumped to the next body. He was waiting for me so he jabbed a punch to my face, which I easily blocked. Slapping my two palms together, I gave him a double chop to his neck, making him collapse.

I was about to turn around, but then my knees got kicked out from under me. I fell hard on my back and my breath whooshed out of me. I grumbled and slowly rubbed my back and I knew a bruise was already starting to form.

I jacked up to my feet and faced my tripper. He was looking at me smugly and I gave another scream before leaping at him. I heard Mei beside me making grunting sounds as she defended herself.

With perfect precision, I kicked his nose in, and felt a crack through my sneakers. The smug look that he gave me earlier was mirrored through my own lips, which resulted in a snarl from his. He wiped blindly at the blood spilling from his nose, and I smirked at him while motioning him to attack.

The smirk from my face disappeared as he pulled out a gun. Forgetting about the position I was in, I raced over to Mei who just punched a guy in the face, all the while keeping an eye on the man with gun. When I took my first step, he cocked the gun.

When I tackled Mei to the floor, he began shooting.

"CRAWL!" I shouted to her over the gunshots.

I hissed in pain as one nicked my calf. Mei's eyes widened and she immediately crawled over behind a shelf. I moved over next to her and gripped my calf in my hand. Mei started to pull it towards her, but I pushed her back against the shelf as another round of shots went off.

"No time," I hissed. "Just go I'm right behind you!" I said.

She whirled around and practically ran on her knees to the other side of the room. The two workers were now lying flat on their stomachs, dead.

Poor things, they must have got shot with stray bullets. The man with the gun was quickly pursing us and was approximately 34 seconds away.

I threw myself behind the new shelf that Mei had moved to and covered a hand over my mouth to keep my gasps of pain under control.

"Come out, come out wherever you are," the man taunted.

I gritted my teeth and motioned at the back door. Mei shook her head and motioned at the front door. When I gave her a confused look, she pointed up at the mirrors that were posted at every corner of the store. The man was about to make the turn to check the back door.

"Go," I mouthed.

She got on her feet, but still kept her knees bent, and she wobbled over there. Due to the searing pain in my calf, I continued my crawling after her. When we reached the front door, we heard police cars in the distance start to close in.

"Once we make a break for the front door, he'll be able to see us. You need to be fast," Mei whispered hardly.

I nodded and took a deep breath. I clenched my teeth and sprinted forwards to the door, with Mei glued to my back. Almost as soon as we left our cover, gunshots flew over our heads, shattering the glass.

My leg was screaming in pain, but I clenched my teeth harder and pumped my muscles faster. When I got to the door, I covered my face over my hands for the broken glass and pushed the rest of the glass out. As soon as I was out the front door, I made a beeline for the car.

I threw a look my shoulder just to make sure Mei was there, and breathed a sigh of relief when I saw her already in the passenger seat. When I cranked the ignition on, three shots penetrated the window shield.

"Doesn't this guy run out of ammo?" Mei shouted as a 4th bullet pierced our window.

The sirens were getting really close now, too close for my comfort. It sounded like they were right across the street. I floored the gas pedal and took off on the back roads.

I looked down at Mei's slouched figure, who was breathing heavily, but otherwise fine.

"Well…so much for that camera," she said.

Despite the situation we were in, I found myself smirking.

"Max," Mei whispered.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"Who were those people? Why do they keep trying to attack us?" she asked.

"Well we know that father sent them so that must mean something," I said through gritted teeth.

"We only know that the people from the mountains were sent from your father. Those 4 men in there didn't say anything," she pointed out.

"Doesn't matter. Father sent someone to kidnap you once," I said.

"So then why are we still here?" she practically shouted.

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"Why are we still doing this? He clearly wants us out of the way, let's get out of here," she said.

"No. This is our revenge. I won't leave until the last bunch are killed," I said.

"Max, we've already killed 8 people! That's enough!" she said exasperated.

"There were hundreds in our village," I whispered. "8 people will never be enough."

"So then what are we supposed to do about these people?" she said.

"We switch back to my original plan," I said staring straight forward.

"We kill every son of a bitch that gets in our way,"

* * *

><p><strong>Anyone notice anything bad?<strong>

**Huh? Oh right!**

**MAX HAS GONE BACK TO PSYCHO MODE! **

**WOOOOOOO It's time for the beast of Maximum Ride to be born.**

**Peace out.**

**-Shift**


	17. Sneaking In

**I don't have much to say... so I'll make this short.**

**SHOUT OUTS:**Wings-and-a-Fiz, Jade Empress, HeAt-StRoKe, Coniglio13, Petemidniight13, A Guy Named George, LivieLi, WaterfallOfJoy and WORMoverBOOK****

****Here we go.****

* * *

><p>The rest of the drive home was quiet and tense. As soon as we pulled in to the apartment parking lot, Mei rushed over to the driving seat to help me out. Gritting my teeth, I swung my legs over the side of the door and grabbed Mei's hand. She pulled me up gently and slowly as possible, and I leaned against her for support once I was out.<p>

I looked down at my calf and almost threw up. The skin that was surrounding the bullet had turned a sick dark purple, and pus was streaming freely down my leg along with blood.

"Shit," Mei hissed.

"You're telling me," I winced in pain as we hoped to the elevators.

This is the part where I'm thankful that I have a lazy staff that doesn't come to the lobby. It was completely deserted and the elevator wasn't any difference.

"Hold on Max, we're almost there," she said as the elevator doors dinged open.

She was half carrying me, half dragging me to the door. My leg was getting numb and swelling with every step I took, and it hurt really badly.

Mei threw the door open and flipped the couch over quickly with ease and helped me wobble over. As soon as I was close enough, I flung myself backwards on the couch and propped my leg up on the side.

Mei sprinted to close and lock the door. She ran upstairs and I heard things crashing down as she searched for the first aid kit. I tried to control my ragged breathing as I continued staring at my wounded leg.

Mei reappeared with two white towels, the first aid kit, alcohol and a steak knife. I gulped at the sight of the blade.

"I know, I'm so sorry about this Max," she whispered setting down her necessities.

I grunted and kept staring at the blade. Mei gently placed my leg down on her knee and twisted it as softly as she could to see the wound. She got out 2 big cotton balls and drenched them in alcohol.

"This is gonna sting," she said apologetically.

She mercilessly dabbed the wound and I gripped the edge of the couch for support. I hissed in pain as she went scrubbing off the stray blood. Despite my protests, she kept working. When the pus and blood was cleared up, she grabbed a set of tweezers and the steak knife.

She looked me dead in the eye, and I nodded back at her. She set the tweezers around the circumference of the bullet wound, and she dug the tip of the steak knife into the hole, scraping it up into the tweezers.

I buried my face in the couch cushions, but refused to cry out. As soon as the knife touched the bullet, a searing pain shot up through my legs and into the pit of my stomach.

"Almost done Max," Mei soothed.

A knew flow of blood ran down my legs and started a little pool right in front of Mei. With one last flick of the blade, Mei got the bullet out with the tweezers. I let out a gasp and started panting heavily, I looked down at Mei, and her face had gone hard and pale.

"What?" I breathed.

"The bullet was poisoned," she said.

"I sort of figured," I admitted.

Although the bullet was out, my skin was still dark purple. I gulped and clenched my fist.

"I'm gonna have to suck out as much as I can with the syringe," she said.

"But you'd have to inject the syringe into my veins," I protested.

"There's no other way. Unless I get this poison out, it will travel up to your stomach, and then moving up to your heart." She said digging out two needles.

"Uh…"I gasped. My vision was starting to get a little foggy, and Mei slapped my cheek hard.

"Don't go to sleep!" she scolded. "If I lose you to unconsciousness, I don't know if you'll wake up," she said.

Grumbling, I slowly retraced the place where she slapped me. Ouch. Mei had the syringe ready, and she held my shaking calf steady.

"Try to be as still as you can, if I miss the vein, I might hit an important tissue," she said.

I tried hard to relax I really did. But when she plunged that syringe into my veins and pulled back, I couldn't help but cry out in pain. Mei looked down at me apologetically and kept pulling the handle of the syringe back.

She pulled the needle out quickly, flicked it with her two fingers and tossed it to me to get a look at while she prepared the second syringe. I fumbled a bit with the needle, but then quickly narrowed my eyes on the deep purple liquid.

"Toxin," I gasped.

"Yep," she said plunging in the second syringe in.

I bit my tongue hard and restrained myself from screaming. I dropped the syringe down on the broken coffee table beside me, and hesitantly looked down at the wound.

I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw that most of the purple was already gone, and all that was left was pus, blood and swelling.

"Almost done," Mei hissed bringing back the handle of the syringe.

Another agonizing 3 seconds, and she pulled the needle out. She capped the needle and tossed it to me where I caught it and placed it next to the other one. Mei was a blur as she unwrapped the bandages and quickly wrapped my leg up tight. I winced as she pulled extra hard to make it tight.

When she was done, she proceeded clean up the puddle of blood and pus and put the first aid kit on the side. She offered me two light blue pills and a tall glass of water.

"Painkillers," she said sitting next to me.

"Thanks," I said.

As soon as that was done, we both sat on the torn up couch, examining the two needles.

"Have you ever heard of something like this?" she asked.

"Poisoned bullets? No, this is a first." I said. "Hey wait, what'd you do with the bullet?" I asked.

"I'm soaking them in hot water in the back. As soon as it's been heated up, I'll run it in the oven for 20 minutes." She said.

Mei told me that during her spare time throughout the years she would educate herself in chemistry. Interested, I tried to research a few basic things but decided to just let her do the complicated things once I spotted a difficult equation.

"Why?" I asked curiously.

"As soon as it's heated up, I can pull it apart to pieces so that I can a swift look on the inside. I'll take a sample and try to match it up with the different known poisons. I can't stand not knowing what this is," she said gesturing at the syringe.

"Or we could just take the syringe and sneak into a medical lab," I pointed out.

Her face fell and she did a face palm.

"Why didn't I think of that?" she groaned.

I smirked and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't think to hard my friend," I said.

"Yeah yeah yeah," she said walking to the kitchen.

* * *

><p>Getting into the hospital was the easy part. But I had to act as security while Mei ran in and did all the tests. And you know what? A girl with a screwed leg is not good security, so I hope Mei can run those tests fast.<p>

10 minutes came and went, and so far no one only one unlucky soul had stumbled upon my path. I think I may have split my wound a little bit more open though.

Finally, after another 10 minutes, Mei dashed out of the room carrying a trey full of 6 viles. She tossed the trey on the side and stuffed the viles into the folds of her pocket. I limped over to the elevator and pushed all the floor numbers and gave Mei a boost as she unscrewed the door at the top of the elevator.

She hoisted herself up and she offered me a hand. Gritting my teeth, I placed my wounded calf on a handle in the elevator and used the upper body strength from my arm to pull me up.

When I got to the top of the elevator, Mei scouted ahead and started climbing the ropes. Hesitantly, I followed after her. I kept my calf as far away from the ropes as possible, and tried to rely on the strength of my arms and knees. We were halfway to the top floor when Mei spoke up.

"You will never believe what I found," she hissed.

"Save it," I said pulling myself higher.

When we reached the top floor, Mei grunted as she tried to pry the doors open. I grabbed one side while she grabbed the other and we wretched it open. We quickly sprung ourselves into the top floor of the hospital room and raced to the staircase.

The nurses were looking at us with curiosity and awe.

"We need to get out fast before they call security," Mei said as we started up the stairs.

Thank goodness for me however, that there was only one flight of stairs until we got to the roof. When we were there, we stood at the ledge and looked into each others eyes.

"Ready?" she asked.

I nodded my head, and clenched the muscles in my calf. She took my hand in hers, and together, we jumped.

* * *

><p><strong>Yeah...<strong>

**What do you think?**

**R&R!**

**Shift**


	18. Not Anymore

**SHOUTOUTS TO: ****Wings-and-a-Fiz, Jade Empress, HeAt-StRoKe, Coniglio13, Petemidniight13, A Guy Named George, LivieLi, WaterfallOfJoy and WORMoverBOOK**

**The story will slowly start coming to an end starting from this chapter.**

**Haha just kidding, I have about a few more chapters to go before it's all over. I've already decided to a sequal about it, but more info on that later.**

**So now,**

**Enjoy.**

* * *

><p>"Start explaining." I said plopping down on the couch.<p>

She pulled out the 6 viles from the folds of her jacket. She pointed at the one with the deep purple liquid, the one that we extracted from my leg.

"This isn't poison as we thought. It's actually called barbiturates. It's an acid as well as a sleeping drug. Sort of like a tranquilizer dart."

She placed the vile in front of me. Then she picked up another one, this time the contents inside was only a third of the way of the vile and was deep red.

"This is some of your blood that I was able to separate from the drug. And also did you know that your O+ blood type? Interesting, I never knew that!" she said smirking.

I rolled my eyes and motioned for her to continue.

"Anyways, I just thought if you had a little bit of your blood back, your headaches might go away. The reason why you feel so light headed all the time is because of your loss of blood. So I'll help you inject it later," she said placing that on the side.

She picked up the third vile which had a pale lime green substance that was bubbling.

"Why is that bubbling?" I asked.

Her grim expression was enough answer to my guess.

"This is what would have happened if I didn't extract the drug from you when I did," she said placing in front of me.

"Wait, why does a drug have this reaction to my blood?" I asked confused.

"The drug wasn't made with the regular ingredients. They added baking soda to the mix, and it didn't help that your blood type was O+. Those two don't go good together, thus creating a bubbly reaction." She said gesturing at the vile.

I shuddered at the thought have bubbly acid running down my body. I motioned to the remaining three viles.

"What are those?" I asked.

"Oh one is for the bullet that I'm gonna tear apart, I know we just got back from the lab but I really want to double check the bullet," she said.

"What about the other two?" I asked.

She shrugged and put them all in the sink in a big container of water.

"Just spares," she said.

"Okay…so…whoever shot me…they knew what they were doing," I said.

"Yep, they also know your blood type which is why they mixed the drug with baking soda. If they know that, then what else could they know?" Mei said.

I pondered the thought for a moment before quickly reaching for the purple vile.

"What are you doing?" Mei asked.

"We can use this." I said.

"For? If you're thinking of using it on the Saxon's forget it. Not all of them have O+" she said.

"No that's not it. We don't need them dead yet. We just need them knocked out so that can them all together at once," I said.

A smile lit up her face.

"Nice idea, but one thing though. The drug only works for a total of 6 hours. And there are still 5 people left so how do we get this to them around the same time? And whose going to get the bodies, there's only two of us," Mei said.

"That parts easy. We drug them at night, wait a good 20 minutes and drag 'em out of their house like their trash- actually they are," I said.

"Hmm…"she said thinking.

"Do you think your car can fit 5 people?"

"Yeah," I said.

"Okay good. The Walkers and Jansens should be back by tomorrow around noon. We should move in tomorrow night, they'll be jetlagged and completely exhausted," Mei said.

"Good. So tomorrow?" I asked standing.

"Tomorrow." Mei said.

* * *

><p>Marian and Jeffrey were sitting in the abandoned living room. Tomorrow, they would leave back to New York.<p>

"The scientists work fast," Marian said.

"Yeah, I didn't they'd be done with that batch for at least another 3 months," Jeffrey said.

"Yeah, have you gotten any word about their 'enhancements'" Marian said.

Jeffrey stood and walked over to the window, where he placed his two masculine hands.

"No, the doctors haven't called me. But before we left, they gave me a document," Jeffrey said.

"A document?" Marian asked scrunching her eyebrows.

"Yes, a document. It was on one of the people that went in for testing. His name was Jeb Ride." Jeffrey said.

"Well what did it say?" Marian asked.

Secretly, Marian was wondering why the doctors chose to send the documents to Jeffrey instead of her.

"It said that he was going to get wings grafted into his back," Jeffrey said.

"Well that's…a new one," Marian said.

"Yeah. Wings? The scientists are losing it." Jeffrey scoffed.

"But why his? Why only his documents?" Marian asked.

"Director Hans had set that his vitals, reflexes, and stamina are superior." Jeffrey said.

"So… this means…" Marian said.

Jeffrey rolled his eyes.

"This means Marian, that Jeb will be Itex's representative when Director Hans runs for president this year," Jeffrey said.

"He's going to use force to win the election?" Marian asked angrily.

"Don't act like that. Once Director Hans wins, things will change for the worst. We can't risk our family's safety for the world," Jeffrey said grimly.

They sat in silence for what seemed like ever, until Marian spoke up.

"Do you regret our initiation?" Marian asked quietly.

"Which one?" Jeffrey asked miserably.

"China's village. Do you regret it?" Marian asked.

"No. Because if we didn't do it, our family's would have paid the price. You know that," Jeffrey pointed out.

"We could have ran. Took our family away."Marian said.

"It wouldn't have helped us at all. The scientists would have their experiments track us down in a matter of days," Jeffrey said.

"I just…I hope that little girl made it." Marian said

"What little girl?" Jeffrey asked.

"The little girl that ran away. She was from the village,"

* * *

><p>Sleeping was one of my favorite things to do. But now, it was a pain in my ass.<p>

Actually it was a pain in my calf.

I couldn't lay a certain way because then it would start throbbing, and when I did find a suitable position, it was uncomfortable.

I couldn't sleep the entire night, so instead, I went to the ice box to look for ice cream. I pulled out the chocolate chip cookie dough and went to sit on the blood stained couch.

I dug in with my spoon and smiled at the taste of cookie dough.

"Yum," I moaned.

I grabbed the remote and flicked on the television. Nothing good was on MTV and Mob wives wasn't on for another hour.

**(A/N anyone here watch Mob Wives? Just asking :P)**

So I settled for the 24 hour round news.

"-42 people that were missing from the company of Itex have been reported found-"

I spit out the spoonful of cookie dough and widened my eyes at the screen. The news anchor lady was gesturing wildly at the picture Itex in front of her.

"Director Hans, owned and founder of Itex has just announced at the press conference earlier today that he will run for president against our very own Barak Obama. He however will not be presenting himself in public, and his representative will be one of the 42 people that were missing. Jeb Ride-"

"MEI!" I screamed.

I paused the television and sprang up from the couch. As soon as I screamed, Mei stumbled down the hallway with a silver gun in her hand, whirling right and left.

"What happened?" she asked fully awake.

I waved her over and rewinded the part I just watched. When she finished watching, the gun was loose in her arm and her mouth was on the floor.

"You're father…he's going to represent the man of Itex?" Mei screamed.

"It appears so. What is he thinking? What is this supposed to mean?" I shrieked.

"Wait, the lady said that Jeb was part of the 42 that were reported missing from Itex right?" Mei asked.

Ah Mei. Always keeping a calm head over everything. Thank goodness for that because I felt like a pile of jello.

"Yes?" I asked.

"Right, so that would have to mean that Jeb was working at Itex from the beginning," Mei started pacing.

"Under cover?" I suggested.

"Probably," Mei said wagging a finger. "But what doesn't make sense is why is Jeb representing that creep? Our mission was to kill the group of Saxons, and maybe shut down the Itex, not help them rule the world!" Mei shouted.

"Maybe that's what he's trying to do, maybe he's going to represent him badly and then ruin Itex's chances," I said doubt full in my voice.

"Maybe," Mei huffed.

I sighed and sat back down, looking at the picture of fathers face on the screen. He was so…different. His cold face was somehow more mischievous and childish. His eyes glinted with a spark of amusement and his smirk looked real. He looked…evil.

"What do we do now?" Mei asked.

I have no idea. None at all. But I knew one thing for sure. Father didn't tell me about this. He didn't call me or sent me a letter about his plans.

And that made me trust him less.

And what good would it be when you can't trust your parent?

"I don't want to kill anymore…"I whispered.

And that was the truth. I didn't want to kill the Saxons, or anyone. But that didn't mean I wasn't still angry.

"Me too Max." Mei whispered sitting next to me.

We sat in silence for two entire hours, reflecting on ourselves.

"Let's get out of here," Mei said.

"And where will we go?" I asked quietly.

"Anywhere. Everywhere. As long as I have my sister, I'll be okay," she said hugging me.

I hugged her back, squeezing her torso.

"Okay. I'm in." I said.

She stood with the silver gun strapped to her waist.

"What's that?" I asked pointing.

She smiled sadly down at me.

"I made it," she said showing me.

I smiled and turned the gun over in my palms. Inside the canister, there lay 13 silver bullets.

"Going werewolf hunting?" I joked.

She chuckled and turned it around to the handle. On the bottom was engraved the words,

_"__Duìyú w__ǒ__ de jiārén"_

"For my family…" I whispered.

"I made it for the unlucky 13 Saxons that would get this punctured through their hearts. But…it seems like their lucky," Mei said.

**(Lucky 13 bullets :D) **

"Extremely," I said handing it back to her.

**R&R PLEASE!**

**-Shift**


	19. Play Your Cards Right

**SHOUTOUTS TO: Wings-and-a-Fiz, Jade Empress, HeAt-StRoKe, Coniglio13, Petemidniight13, A Guy Named George, LivieLi, WaterfallOfJoy and WORMoverBOOK**

* * *

><p>Mei and I walked throughout the torn hallways of my apartment together.<p>

"Despite how empty this place was, I'll miss it," Mei said.

I nodded and trailed my fingers over a picture that I tacked up on the wall. It was one that Gazzy had drawn for me when I was in the hospital. It was my first real present and I treasured it ever since. And that's why I had to burn it. To erase him and his family from my memories.

My cell phone rang, and I looked down at it annoyingly, expecting Marian.

Instead, I saw father.

Mei froze next to me and looked down at my phone.

"Should I?" I asked.

"Yes, he'll think something is up if we don't," she said.

I nodded and pressed the 'TALK' button on my phone.

"Elizabeth speaking." I said.

"Maximum," father said.

"father!" I said with fake enthusiasm.

"I assume you've been watching the news?" father asked.

"Uh…yes sir." I said hesitantly.

"I have an explanation for your confusion, and I want you and Mei to come to me." Father said.

My jaw dropped. What did he say? He wanted us to come find him? There's a first.

"What?" I asked dumbly.

"Come down to Jackson's warehouse on 43rd street. You know the place," father said hanging up.

I ended the call and looked at Mei. She raised an eyebrow and made a face.

"What did he say?" she asked.

"He wants to explain why he's representing Director Hans. He wants us to come so he can explain it," I said.

"Well then, let's go," Mei said.

I looked at her in disbelief and confusion.

"What?" I asked.

"Yeah, if we don't go, he'll know. He's too close for us to make a run. We have to act like we've been normal," Mei said.

I looked down at my phone.

"So close…" I whispered.

Mei patted my shoulder.

"It's okay. We just have to play it safe for a few more hours. What time is it?" Mei asked.

I looked down at Mei.

"2:34 PM" I said.

"Marian and Jeffrey would be at home by now," Mei said.

"Let's just go," I said limping back to my room.

I opened my closet door and pulled down an elbow length black shirt. I put it on and shrugged on a black leather jacket over it. My wound would not go good in a set of jeans, so I put on my black knee high shorts and shrugged on my sneakers, not bothering to hide my bandaged leg.

I grabbed three guns and tied it to the inside of my jacket, and I tied my hair up with a butterfly knife.

I walked outside and tapped on Mei's door. She opened it and I surveyed her outfit.

She wore a long sleeved black plain shirt, with dark blue jeans. She wore knee high boots with a flat heel.

"You're gonna get cold," she said motioning at my legs.

I shrugged and walked into the living room. I grabbed my keys and tossed them at Mei. I took a good look around the apartment, and walked over to the kitchen. I grabbed the purpled vile and tied it securely around my wrist.

* * *

><p>Marian drove for 4 straight hours with the constant nagging of Ella and Nudge. And since Iggy and Fang's ride had left early, it was even more noisy in the car.<p>

"For the last time Iggy, She went to rehab because a boy dumped her!" Nudge said exasperated.

"Ugh! Girls!" Iggy said throwing his arms up.

"What about girls?" Ella snarled.

Iggy froze and looked at his girlfriend.

"They're…awesome?" he suggested.

"Good save stupid," Fang whispered.

Iggy glared at his brother and brought his hand up to smack him, but hit Gazzy instead.

"Watch it idiot!" Gazzy shouted.

"Make me!" Iggy taunted sticking his tongue out.

"So immature" Nudge said rolling her eyes.

"Like your any better!" Gazzy whirled on his sister.

"Girls are more mature, face it." Nudge said.

"Are not."

"Are too,"

"Are not,"

"Are too,"

"Are not,"

"Are too,"

"ARE NOT!"

"ARE TOO!"

"Are-

"SHUT UP!" Marian shouted.

Silence.

Marian's cell phone was ringing, and she snapped it up and clicked the talk button.

"What?" she snapped.

"Who peed in your cereal?" Jeffrey asked.

"Shut up. What do you want?" she asked.

"We're gonna pull into your house first," he said.

"alright," she said hanging up.

The rest of the ride was in peaceful silence. Marian sighed and shot an apologetic look at Stephen who only smiled and clutched her hand tighter.

When they got home, everyone piled out and started to help unpack the bags. Iggy took Ella's bag up to her room and Nudge helped move her parents bags to the side.

When everything was out, Marian offered the Walkers to stay for lunch before they left.

"Sure," Jeffrey said walking into the kitchen.

"Make yourself at home," Marian said rolling her eyes.

Marian, Anne, and Ella started on lunch while the others were mingling around the house.

"Ma!" Angel cried.

"Oops, sorry ladies," Anne said leaving the kitchen to attend to her daughter.

From the kitchen island, Marian could see everything that was happening, except for upstairs. She liked that she could keep an eye on everything because she felt paranoid whenever she couldn't spot one of the children.

From the couch, Jeffrey visibly tensed. Marian rushed over to her old friend and laid a hand on his shoulder.

"What is it?" she whispered.

"Something-"

A crash from the side made them both go silent and whirl towards the noise. Anne's scream made Jeffrey race to the kitchen.

"What happened-"

That's when the gas bomb exploded.

**(A/N A gas bomb just lets gas spill out from the canister.)**

* * *

><p>"Are you sure this is the right address?" Mei asked looking around.<p>

"Positive," I said unhooking my seatbelt.

Mei studied the building and I studied the sky. It was about mid evening, and the sun was already setting.

"Ready?" Mei asked.

"Yep. Let's go," I said opening the door.

I limped forwards to the side door, and tried to open it but it wouldn't budge. I motioned at the door for Mei and she stepped back three steps. She charged the door and did a spinning back kick, bringing it down.

"Nice," I smiled.

She smirked and motioned for me to walk in. I looked down at the floor and the first thing I saw were rats. Scrunching my nose in disgust, I kicked one out of the way and walked in.

"Eww!" Mei hissed clutching my arm.

I rolled my eyes and kept limping forwards.

"Maximum, Mei Na!" a thrilled voice behind us called.

Mei and I whirled around, crouching into a stance.

As soon as _he _walked out, Mei and I stood from our crouches, but our muscles didn't unclench. His sick smile was twisted. His eyes were piercing my soul, and as usual, I felt like a little kid whenever I was around him.

"Father," I said tonelessly.

His smile melted into a smirk.

"You don't look that pleased to see me," father said.

We stayed silent.

"Fair enough," he sighed moving closer.

Father's eyes looked down at my wrapped leg. He shook his head and clicked his tongue in a disapproving matter.

"Always playing rough," he said.

Father walked around us in circles, examining us closely.

"You have questions don't you?" Father asked.

Mei nodded for us.

"Start." Father said standing in front of us.

"What are your intentions behind representing Director Hans for the election?" I asked immediately.

"To help him win of course," father said.

"Why?" Mei asked skeptically.

"Because girls, I realized. Why settle for revenge, when you can have the world instead?" he asked.

"You're despicable," I spat backing up.

"Am I? Am I really?" he asked standing up straighter.

"Mother would be disgusted with what we've all become," I said throwing daggers at him.

"Don't talk in that tone to me young lady! You will respect my wishes like the daughter you are!" he growled.

Mei elbowed my ribs and gave me a look that read, '_play along'_

I looked back at father and gave him a frown.

"I'm sorry father," I began. "I'm just so confused," I whispered like a little girl.

Father's face automatically softened and he crossed his arms over his chest.

"You've done well. Both of you" he said looking at Mei "but you aren't done." He said.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"The Saxons. You had 5 left to kill correct?" he asked.

"Yes," I clarified.

"I killed 3 of them before I came down here. It was actually too easy, I don't know what you were thinking," he said.

My blood stopped pumping for a second, before I narrowed my eyes at the floor.

"Who's left?" I croaked through a swollen throat.

"Marian Jansen and Jeffrey Walker," he said.

I sighed a breath of relief, but easily masked it with frustration.

"I apologize for not having it done sooner, Mei and I will take care of it immediately." I said grabbing Mei's arms.

"Stop," father commanded.

"What is it?" I asked.

"You won't have to go anywhere. They're all upstairs," he said.

* * *

><p><strong>We're almost there!<strong>

**R&R PLEASE!**

**-Shift**


	20. Curtain Time

**SHOUT OUTS TOOO: Wings-and-a-Fiz, Jade Empress, HeAt-StRoKe, Coniglio13, Petemidniight13, A Guy Named George, LivieLi, WaterfallOfJoy, WORMoverBOOK, Keggy and Heggy, and murphymypup**

* * *

><p>I stared hard at father.<p>

"Where are they?" I asked, relieved that my voice sounded calm.

Father was silent for a moment before he snapped his fingers. Automatically, a handful of men dropped from the second floor and stood behind father.

"Gentlemen, these are my two daughters. Mei Na and Maximum," he said.

I gritted my teeth and gave the man closest to father a hard glare.

"Where did you get these men?" Mei asked.

"It seems like our village wasn't the only one that was destroyed by the Saxons," father said grimly.

Mei gasped and I held down a snarl.

"You mean the Saxons…they slaughtered more than our village?" I said eyeing the men carefully.

They all seemed to be wearing black, just like us.

"Correct Maximum," father said.

"Wait- why did you send people to kidnap me?" Mei asked.

Confusion flicked over father's face.

"I didn't send anyone," he said.

Marian felt like her head had been used as a soccer ball.

Her brain was screaming at her to wake up, to move about and find the family. But her eyelids didn't want to co-operate. She was so tired.

"Marian," someone whispered frantically into her ear.

"Mom?" someone sobbed. That sounded a lot like Gazzy.

"Mom?" someone else whispered.

Ella.

Marian moaned and gathered up her strength to open her eyes. Standing over her was Jeffrey, and her kids with worried expressions.

Marian sat up slowly and leaned on Gazzy for support.

"Where- where-"

"We don't know." Jeffrey said standing.

Marian turned her head to look at the rest of the room. In the corner were the Walkers, all huddled together, whispering amongst each other frantically. Angel lay sleeping in her mother's arms, wishing they'd all be quiet.

Marian turned her head to look for Stephen, but didn't see him anywhere in the room.

"Where's Stephen?" She cried frantically.

Jeffrey looked at his best friend with deep sorrow. Anne frowned and avoided contact with her friend. Her kids however, looked Marian dead in the eye with pity.

"Where is he?" she whispered.

"We don't know mom," Nudge sobbed.

I gawked at father.

"You didn't send anyone?" I asked.

"No one," he said shaking his head.

I shared a look with Mei.

"Has someone been attacking you?" father asked.

"Yes, two times actually," I said.

Mei explained what happened and also mentioned the poison that got into my body. Father nodded and paid attention. I also explained the message that was written on my wall, and the incident with Walter's wife.

"I don't know who that could be. Maybe another band of assassins?" father suggested.

Mei and I shrugged.

Father looked troubled for a second before brushing it off and motioned for the stairs.

"Well, go on then." He said.

"What?" I asked.

"Finish them." Father said.

Mei and I didn't hesitate. We both walked together up the stairs, feeling father's stare right on our necks.

"Girls," he called.

We were mid way there.

"I'm so proud," he finished.

Without a look back, we continued walking. We turned a right and walked to the last door. Mei looked at me and nodded her head.

"Are you ready?" she asked.

"Yes. Are you?" I asked.

"Affirmative," she smirked.

I smiled at her and grabbed the door knob.

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><p><strong>SO EXITED FOR THE NEXT CHAPTER!<strong>

**-Shift**


	21. Apologies

**SHOUT OUTS TO: Wings-and-a-Fiz, Jade Empress, HeAt-StRoKe, Coniglio13, Petemidniight13, A Guy Named George, LivieLi, WaterfallOfJoy, WORMoverBOOK, Keggy and Heggy, murphymypup and pure-dark-winged-angel**

**pure-dark-winged-angel: thanks for the review and king words. They make me feel really good about my work :)**

**WORMoverBOOK: haha little sisters to annoy? You got the life. lol, when does your school get back in session? I'm going back late August. **

**Wings-and-a-Fez: Hehe I have a very bad feeling about whats going to happen in this chapter...*suspense moment***

**The Jade Empress: To be honest, I typed this story up a while ago, and I just polished it up a bit. Basiacally all the chapters are done, and I just have to find time in between to update em and all the authors notes and stuff. **

**You're all gonna come after me with pitch forks once you've read what I've done...**

**Please don't kill me.**

**Enjoy.**

* * *

><p>Father wasn't lying when he said that Jeffrey and Marian were up here.<p>

He did however, forget to mention the fact that the _entire _family was here as well.

When I stepped inside, everyone's gaze was on me. I saw mixed emotions from relief, surprise, suspicion, and fear. I searched for Fang's eyes first, and he met my own with a look of shock. I took a hear count, and strangely, I found Stephen was nowhere to be found.

"Elizabeth?" Nudge asked. "Is that really you? Oh thank god your here! Guys we're saved!" Nudge said squealing.

Mei walked in behind me.

"Tony? You too?" Ella said.

"What are you guys doing here?" Marian asked standing up and walking over.

Mei pulled her gun and pointed it at Marian who froze in place. Everyone gasped and looked at Mei with shocked glances.

"What are you doing?" Nudge asked.

"But it down Mei," I said.

"Mei?" Iggy said.

"Got a problem with my name?" Mei snarled.

Iggy stared at Mei with shock and confusion. This wasn't the funny bubbly girl that they knew. This was assassin Mei.

"Can I ask you something?" I said to Marian.

She looked frightened and most of all worried. She nodded quietly and Jeffrey stood up, walking over to his best friend.

"Jeff-"

"It's okay," he said standing with Marian.

"What are you girls doing?" he asked incredulously.

"Do you remember me?" I asked getting straight to the point.

My face was wiped of emotion. This little talk right here, would determine their future. I would either kill them, leave them to die, or help them escape.

Due to our history together, I really had doubts about the last option.

"Remember you? Honey I've never met you before this year-"

"Don't lie!" I shrieked.

"I'm not!"

"Think. Think back 12 years ago. In the country side of China. A village." I said angrily.

The two Saxon's before me went stiff and the blood drained for their faces.

"Dad? What is she talking about?" Fang said looking at me with anger.

I ignored the bad feeling in my heart about Fang, and kept staring hard at Marian.

"Are you sure you don't remember?" I asked.

"I- I- I remember," Marian whispered looking down.

"Do you regret it?" Mei asked angrily. "Do you?" She shouted.

"Every bit!" Marian shouted, tears flowing down her cheeks.

"What is going on?" Anne asked standing up.

"Explain to them." I said not looking away from Marian. "Explain how 12 years ago, _you murdered my family!" _I screamed.

"What?" Nudge said.

"Our mother is not a murderer!" Ella cried.

"That's not possible!" Gazzy said siding with his sisters.

"Elizabeth, you're crazy. My dad has never hurt anyone in his entire life," Iggy said.

"So that's it then?" I asked Jeffrey and Marian. "You're gonna let them give you fake praise you don't even deserve?" I shouted.

"Guys…" Marian whispered from her tears.

"Elizabeth, I knew you gave off creepy vibes. You need to leave now!" Ella shouted angrily.

"Not until they confirm it," I said locking eyes with Jeffrey.

His eyes were brown and hollow, full of sorrow and regret.

"You don't understand. We had no choice!" Jeffrey yelled.

"What?" Fang and Iggy screamed together.

"You- You mean this, what she said- mom. Mom that can't be true." Ella said tears brimming her eyes.

"It's true," Marian said softly.

"No!" Gazzy cried flinging himself down.

Fang stood shakily and walked to his father's side. He looked at me with an impassive set of eyes.

"What are you?" he asked silently.

I couldn't help it. I laughed. I laughed so hard that tears fell from my eyes. It was amusing how he had the audacity to ask me that question.

"I am a person," I said stupidly.

"You know what I mean!" he shouted angrily.

Those eyes that once looked at me with care, was now glaring at me sternly. There were no traces of concern, worry, or kindness. There was only betrayal, hurt, and sadness.

"My real name is Maximum Ride. Daughter of Jeb and Valencia Ride. Sister to Ari Ride, who are all now deceased except for my father." I said.

I laid a hand on Mei's shoulder, who was seething in back of me.

"This is Mei La Na. Daughter of Juan and Yin Na. Sister to Kim Na Na, all deceased," I said.

"You girls…Oh I am so sorry!" Marian said throwing herself down.

She began to weep loudly, hiding her face in her palms.

"Mom-" Nudge choked.

"What do you guys want?" Iggy asked.

"We wanted revenge." Mei said standing beside me.

"Well you're not gonna get it," Gazzy said standing in front of his mom. He glared at me and Mei.

"You're not listening you little twerp," Mei snarled.

Gazzy looked startled at Mei's hostility.

"We _wanted_ revenge. Now all we want is to get out of this stupid state," I said.

Everyone went silent, still trying to process what we said.

"Wait- the other Saxons-"

"Dead." I said cutting Jeffrey off.

"You killed them?" he asked incredulously.

"Most of them," I shared a look with Mei.

"What do you mean most of them?" Jeffrey asked.

"Theres another assassin band here in New York. Far more dangerous than we are and a hell of a lot quieter," I said.

"Assassins? Eliza- Max. You're an assassin?" Fang asked sadly.

I nodded my head, and avoided his eye contact. However, I did stare straight into Jeffrey's.

"I was trained to kill you two." I said.

"What?" Nudge said standing up.

"Will you all shut up and stop interrupting, before I put a bullet through someone's eyes." Mei shouted.

Nudge sat back down.

"We were trained since we were 6 years old to kill you and the rest of the Saxons who slaughtered our village,"

Marian twitched and Jeffrey clenched his jaw.

"but now, we're leaving our lives and moving. Going out of the country most likely. As a matter of fact, _he _sent me back up here to finish you off," I said.

"Who's _he?" _Jeffrey asked.

"Think for a moment bone head," Mei said.

"Lay off the hostility," I chuckled.

"I don't find this matter funny," Fang said.

"Neither do I," father said.

Mei and I froze, and whirled around to face father.

"What are you two doing? I would have figured you'd be done, not socializing!" he shouted meanly.

"About that- father we were about to get to it,"

"Father? Your father is Jeb Ride?" Jeffrey asked.

"Yes, I am her father. And she would have a mother if you hadn't burned my village to the ground," father snarled.

Mei and I shrunk back against father and stared down at our feet.

"Girls." Father said.

"Yes?" we squeaked.

"Finish them off. Now." He said.

I snapped my head up and looked up at him.

"Father-"

"Don't argue!" he shouted. "Do it now."

The Walkers all gathered together as well as the Jansen's. They looked at father with fear, even Fang. And that really broke my heart.

"No." Mei said.

He whirled to his left where Mei was standing, and slashed her cheek with his knife, but she didn't cry out. Blood ran down in a horizontal line, and she glared at him.

"What?" he shouted.

"I said no." she said standing in front of the families.

"Fine. Then you will die along with them. Maximum, kill them now, or I will kill you. Now hurry up," he said turning to me.

I started shaking. I knew that my punishment would be worst then death itself. And father was evil now. He didn't care that I was his daughter, he would kill me because I disobeyed him.

I was scared.

I stared at Mei Na, my best friend, my sister. Her gaze was soft and kind when she stared at me. She wasn't blaming me if I took the safer road. She was actually encouraging it.

"It's okay Max." she said.

"I'm sorry Mei," I whispered pulling out the knife from my hair. "I'm sorry it had to go down like this," I took a step closer.

"But I'm not," she smiled.

With one final glance at her, I threw the knife.

Mei fell to the ground as it pierced her chest.

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><p><strong>O.O<strong>

**R&R PLEASE!**

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	22. Betrayal Sucks For You

**SHOUT OUTS TO: Wings-and-a-Fiz, Jade Empress, HeAt-StRoKe, Coniglio13, Petemidniight13, A Guy Named George, LivieLi, WaterfallOfJoy, WORMoverBOOK, Keggy and Heggy, murphymypup and pure-dark-winged-angel**

**Enjoy guys!**

* * *

><p>Mei crumpled to the floor as soon as the knife pierced her chest.<p>

Everyone gasped and stared at me with shock and disbelief.

"Well done Max," father cooed into my ear. "Now finish the rest." He said walking around the room.

I took two steps forward and looked down at Mei. My best friend and sister, lying down at my mercy. It's quite sad once you think about it.

"Max- how could you?" Fang asked looking at Mei.

"You have no say in what I'm about to do. So shut up, be a good little prisoner, and hold your neck out. I'll make it fast just for you," I said winking.

He recoiled in disgust and I nudged Mei's arm with my boot, double checking. I turned to father, who was watching with amusement.

"Are you ready?" I asked slyly.

"I've been ready," he said nodding.

"Good," I said pulling out the gun from Mei's pocket.

"How very fortunate. All of you here at the same time," I said smiling.

I pointed the gun at a trembling Marian, and cocked the gun.

"1…" I whispered.

I took aim.

"2…." I whispered.

I smiled at Marian.

"3…."

"MEI NOW!"

Mei leaped up and tore the knife from her stomach. She threw it with deadly force and it landed right in father's abdomen.

His eyes bulged out of his head, and he stumbled backwards, tumbling over the chair. I yanked off the purple vile from my wrist, and poured two bullets into it. Shaking it up, I put the bullets back into the gun and shot father in both legs.

He whirled on his back, writhing in pain.

"It sucks that you have O+ blood type," I said smirking.

I went over to Mei and hugged her to me tight. She ripped off her long sleeved shirt to reveal a shooting vest strapped across her entire torso and her chest.

"I knew you'd make the right choice," she said smiling.

"Yes, I made the right choice of stabbing you." I laughed hugging her again.

"Works for me," Mei smirked.

We both turned to the family. We had to help. Father would kill them for sure, and all of our efforts here would have gone to waste.

"Hurry we have to get downstairs!" Mei said helping them up.

"You're helping us?" Marian asked. "Why?" she asked.

"If you don't want our help, fine. If you do, just go! Follow Max!" she said ushering the others out.

"Wait!" I said.

"What?" Mei asked eyeing father dangerously.

"The guards. Theres like 50 of them down there!" I motioned to Ella and Nudge "We won't exactly make a fast escape."

"We'll go." Jeffrey and Marian stood up. "We'll clear the path up and then we'll give you the signal to move out," Jeffrey said.

"I'll go with you, Max, keep an eye on your father," Mei said standing up.

"Be careful," I said to her.

She walked with Jeffrey and Marian to the door before she kicked it down with another back kick.

"Impressive," Jeffrey muttered.

The three of them went down and 20 seconds later, the battle was on. I looked to the others, and they were watching me with unease. I rolled my eyes and placed a hand on my hip.

"I knew she had the breast plate," I pointed.

Silence. I sighed and looked down at where father was. But he was gone.

Mei's POV-

As soon as we got out of the door, I raced down the banister of the stairs and kicked a guard in his chest. He fell over with and smashed into the guy behind him, both of them banging their heads against the concrete.

I heard Marian and Jeffrey rush down the stairs to join me. Without looking at them, I launched myself at two guards.

Using the momentum of the last step, I launched upwards and did a spinning kick to a guys temple bringing him down automatically.

My tenth man was down. I was still going strong. But not Marian, she had about 5 guys on her at once. I rushed over to her side and kicked the nearest goon I could get to. Marian looked at me for one second in surprise before doing a karate chop to the back of a mans neck.

I brought my leg in a big arc, and brought it down on a collapsed goon, and my heel dug into his rib cage.

"AHH!" he screamed.

Smirking, I tumbled forward and swiped out someone's feet, causing them to bash their head against the concrete floor.

Pft, men.

Max's POV-

I looked around in alarm, searching for father.

But he was nowhere to be found.

"Stay here," I ordered the others.

I ran behind the chair where he was last found, and saw that the floor was completely bare. Not even a blood trail, which is strange because father was definitely bleeding.

I looked around the corner of the walls slowly, and found that small part of the room vacant too. Puzzled yet alarmed, I walked backwards to the group that was huddled in the far right corner.

My leg was throbbing in pain for being in use for too long, and I plopped down on the other side of the wall, inspecting my leg with a frown.

"What happened?" Gazzy asked in a small voice.

He was still upset about all of this, I could tell. And he still didn't trust me. But that was okay. At least he was leaving with his life today.

I smiled softly at him and pointed to the blood that was seeping through the bandage.

"Got shot by a poisoned bullet." I said.

Wrinkling my nose in disgust, I slid the blood stained hand down my shorts. I bit my lip and tried to massage the sides of the wound. The swelling was really acting up now, and it hurt even when I wasn't standing on it.

"Poisoned bullet?" Ella asked softly.

"Yeah." I smirked. "Assassins these days. So frickin' creative," I mumbled.

"You shouldn't put pressure on it like that," Fang whispered.

I looked at him curiously.

"Why not?" I asked.

He shrugged and looked down. I sighed and just retied the bandage tighter. Mei left her silver gun behind at the door, and I walked over to pick it up.

An idea suddenly formed into my brain, and I mentally slapped myself for not thinking about it sooner.

I cocked it and took aim at one of the windows, and shot at it three times. The glass came shattering down like rain. I looked out at the full moon that was chillin up in the sky.

Man, how I wish I were the moon.

No jobs. No obligations. Just chill.

Okay, anyways….

I looked back at the others and motioned for the window.

"You're crazy," Ella grounded out.

"I thought we established this already." I said pushing chairs over to the window.

"We can't. It's a two story drop," Nudge said quietly.

"Then Iggy and Fang will carry you. Unless of course you want _me_ to carry you." I said looking at her.

"Why can't we just wait-"

"Because they'll be expecting us on the other side," I said motioning at the door.

"What are you talking about?" Fang asked.

"These guys are deadly. They wouldn't just all camp out inside the warehouse, we need to get around them, and we can't do that if we just strut out the front door now can we?" I asked.

Fang looked like he was about to argue, but Anne waved a hand stopping him.

"She's proven herself that she wouldn't hurt us. Stop whining and let's go," she said quietly.

I knew I always liked her.

"I can't climb for shit," Iggy said not looking at me.

"Neither can I," Fang asked.

Great.

"Fine, then I'll do all the work," I said grabbing a rope.

"What are you doing?" Iggy asked.

I tied the rope in a triple knot on the window pane and threw it over. Even though the rope was long, it only made it about 2 quarters of the way down.

I stood up on the chair and laid one foot on the window.

"Who's coming first?" I asked tugging the rope.

Silence.

"You can't be serious." Ella said looking at me incredulously.

I shrugged and looked out at the door.

"It's either my way." I said gesturing at the window. "-or we can walk straight through the battle and hope that none of those kind men down there snap your body in half," I said pointing at the door.

They all looked at the door, and started thinking.

"It's your choice really, cause I've done all the talking and explaining for one night," I said leaning on the window pane.

"You haven't even come close to that," Fang snarled.

I pushed off the wall and glared at him.

"What do you want to know that I haven't already told you?" I shouted.

He looked me dead in the eye. All that hatred and disgust that he felt earlier was wiped away. I would rather him be angry at me then feel _nothing _for me at all.

"Why are you helping us?" he asked calmly.

Everyone looked at me. They wanted to know the answer too.

Oh great. Now it's time for me to get mushy feeling, but I was going to tell the truth, because they needed to trust me. Or at least, have faith in me for this time period.

"Because you treated me like a family would. I never had that growing up." I said sadly.

I turned my back away from them, and gazed out at the full moon.

"Please, let them see my true intentions," I said softly.

Strong arms wrapped around my waist, and I froze up in terror. But then I realized, it was Fang.

Fang was _hugging _me, right after I- after all those things-

…

I'll shut up now.

All that mattered, was that Fang was by my side.

I think it's safe for me to say this,

I'm in love with Fang Walker.

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><p><strong>GASP!<strong>

**FAXFAXFAXFAXFAXFAXFAX!**

**R&R Please?**

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	23. Blinded By My Foolishness

**Wingz-and-a-Fiz, Jade Empress, HeAt-StRoKe, Coniglio13, Petemidniight13, A Guy Named George, LivieLi, WaterfallOfJoy, WORMoverBOOK, Keggy and Heggy, murphymypup, pure-dark-winged-angel, Hunter-girl14, Sa La H, and Sierra156.**

**Sierra156- Dude, you don't know how much I love your story 'Scars'. Max and Fang? Their fights are hilarious. And its really an honor having someone of your caliber reading my stories, so thank you. And keep up the good work with the rest of your stories, they're all really good.**

**murphymypup- haha thanks for being loyal. Although, I am getting a bit stuck with my plot. I should have a character death to make it more interesting shouldn't I? Haha, I promise it won't be Fang...*crosses fingers behind back***

**Wingz-and-a-Fez- FAX! AT LAST! :P**

**Sa La H- Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you a million times! This is my first fanfiction I've ever wrote, and I was almost sure I'd be shot down from all different angles. But thank you so much for your advice, I've daken it into deep consideration. But thank you for reading! I really appreciate it.**

**Hunter-girl14- rest assured my dear friend. There shall be more dramatic twists that you will read about, stay tunned ;)**

**WORMoverBOOK- I have no intention on making Anne a traitor, although I am open to ideas for the sequal. Got any ideas that you want me to consider? Send em to me if you like. But thanks for the constant reviews and support. Highly appreciated!**

**AND NOW,**

**another chapter brought to you, by none other thaaaaan,**

**Me.**

**Lol, enjoy guys.**

* * *

><p>I buried my face in Fang's chest, loving the feeling and admiring the way how I fit perfectly in his arms.<p>

"I trust you. I don't know why but I do." He whispered into my hair.

I smiled and clutched my arms tighter around his stomach. A few moments later, I pulled away and held him at arm's length. I looked into his dark brown eyes and tried to tell him how much I loved him, and by the looks of his grin, he got the message.

"Let's get you guys out of here," I said.

"Fang, you go first alright?" I said tying the rope around my waist.

"Just tell me what to do," he said supportively.

"Just hold on tight." I said stepping up on the window pane.

Fang wrapped his arms around my waist and held me to him tightly. I tried to not to blush when I saw Nudge and Iggy's snickers.

I kicked off the window pane and we slid down the rope at a tremendous pace. I winced as my fingers got heated up in rope burn, but didn't voice out my problems to Fang. When we got to the end of the rope, there was still 5 feet to go before he reached solid ground.

Thanks to Fang being tall, the jump wasn't that bad. He landed on the ground silently like a deadly ninja and I used my upper body strength to climb back up to the second story. When I got to the window pane, Iggy and Anne were helping Nudge sit up with her crutches.

She walked over to me with them and looked at me with reassurance. Grinning, I told her to lean against the window for support, and I threw her crutches down at Fang. He caught them with ease and placed them neatly on the ground. I squatted in front of Nudge so that she could climb on my back. It was a little awkward seeing as though her cast was bigger than her actual leg.

She clutched onto my neck tightly and I lowered myself out of the window, trying to be more slower than last time. Nudge was breathing hysterically, but I didn't have the energy to try to calm her down. All my strength was forced on getting to the bottom of the rope.

Nudge wasn't exactly tall, so the jump to the floor was a bit longer for her. Fang waited at the very edge, waiting to see if we'd fall.

"Nudge, this is gonna sound crazy, but you need to let go of me," I said.

"What?" she squeaked in my ear.

"Fang will catch you," I said loudly so that he understood.

"Fang if you don't catch me, you are so dead!" she hissed.

Then with slight hesitation, she released her grip on my neck and she fell 6 feet to the floor. Fang stumbled a bit when he caught her and they both ended up falling. Nudge got cushioned by Fang though because she fell on top of him. Snickering, I made my way back up, ignoring the screaming raw agony of my palms.

Gazzy was the last one. I was on my way back up to him from dropping off Iggy, (Who by the way could not shut up with his perverted jokes regarding Fang and I. Immature Ditz.), when I heard it.

Gazzy shouting for help.

I gripped the rope tighter and hauled myself up quicker, but my body was exhausted, my palms were aching, and my calf was throbbing in pain. I couldn't feet half my body, but the thought of Gazzy getting hurt made me overcome my pains and haul myself up onto the window pane.

And right into Jeb's trap.

Mei's POV-

So tired.

So….tired…just wanna sleep…

I shook my head, trying to dismiss the exhaustion that was trying to overwhelm me. My legs were sore and my arms were suffering long cuts. My vision was getting blurry, but I was mentally ordering myself around.

Duck. Kick. Punch. Evade. Help Marian. Help Jeffrey.

I was like a robot, but even robots short circuit sometimes.

There was just too many, I couldn't deal with another 100 even if I had Max by my side.

Yeah, that's how exhausted I was.

Max's POV-

As soon as I hauled myself up onto the window pane, a pair of rough hands grabbed me by the throat and pulled me the rest of the way in. I landed on my injured leg, and I hissed in pain, rolling so that I was on my back.

"Max!" Gazzy shouted.

I looked up at Gazzy, who was being held by Jeb at the throat. My arms were dead, totally useless to me. And yet, I found myself shakily getting to my feet. I swayed back and forth, and I had to rest the palm against my face and leaning against the side of the wall.

Jeb's laugh made my heart crawl. It was mixed with amusement, and of course darkness.

"So pathetic," he spat looking at me.

I struggled for an intake of breath before straightening my tight spine and looking him dead in the eye.

"Let the boy go," I said.

There was that laugh again. I looked into Gazzy's eyes. Fear was evident, yet when he glanced at me, I sent him a reassuring look. He stopped struggling a bit and it gave him at least a little bit more room to breathe, until Jeb tightened his grip.

"Stop already!" I said taking a step closer.

Jeb pulled harder on Gazzy's throat when I took a step, so I froze in place.

"You make another move, the boys neck gets snapped in half," he snarled.

I nodded and held my palms up facing him, so that he knew I wasn't reaching for a weapon. I tried to search behind him, above him, anywhere for something that I could use to my advantage.

But this stupid warehouse just held mountains and mountains of different chairs. Yeah, it was a chair warehouse. I couldn't make a bolt for a chair, he'd notice me for sure and Gazzy would be dead long before I reached it.

"I want you to slide the gun over this way," he said pointing at Mei's silver gun that fell out of my pocket.

I took a trembling foot and pushed it hastily at Jeb.

"Why aren't you dead?" I asked curiously.

Jeb snarled at me and picked up the gun, pointing it at me.

"Sorry to disappoint. And haven't you realized anything yet Maximum?" he asked darkly.

I kept silent and searched his face for any intention that he was bluffing. If anyone had the best poker face in history, it was Jeb.

Not Lady Gaga for those of you that were wondering.

"What are you talking about?" I asked keeping a concerned glance at Gazzy.

"You really have changed over the year," he chuckled darkly. "You honestly don't see the change in me?" he asked.

"I see a heartless man who would kill an innocent 13 year old. Jeb…_father _please. Don't be like those Saxons. Don't take this boy away from his family," I said as softly as I could.

"Why not it's only fair," he snarled.

"No, it's cruel. Please don't do this," I said.

"You're not the daughter I raised," he growled.

"_But you're the father I grew up with. I was just too blinded by revenge to see it," _I thought bitterly.

Gazzy didn't have much time left. He was losing oxygen. I needed a diversion, something that would get father's attention just for 2 seconds!

Gazzy seemed to understand, because he looked up at me from his stiff posture, and nodded.

All of a sudden, Gazzy stomped down hard on Jeb's foot. And although it didn't hurt. Jeb was taken by surprise and stumbled back a bit.

That was all I needed.

I sprang forward, and slammed into Jeb's abdomen with my shoulder while ripping Gazzy out of his hands. I noticed two things just then. Feathers drifted out of the back of Jeb's leather jacket, and the knife that Maya threw at him was now gone.

Jeb went falling backwards and crashed into a row of wooden chairs. Gazzy gasped for breath and started retching on the floor.

I acted on impulse. I pushed him towards the window, and made him get a grip on the rope. When he got a firm grip, I pushed him out.

I heard Jeb start to get up, pushing chairs out of his path. Panicking, I quickly undid the ropes and tossed it down.

"RUN!" I shouted.

Something cold and hard was jabbed into my side, and my eyes widened in shock. I slowly looked down, but wasn't surprised to see a small blade sticking out from my hip. A hot breath was pressed onto the very back of my neck. Jeb.

"You're gonna regret everything," he said. "every single thing," he whispered.

Mei's POV- (Again!)

Ever get that feeling in your gut where you know something bad just happened to a loved one?

My stomach did weird flips and dips as I kept fighting. Something was wrong, and since Max is the only one who I remotely care about in this entire universe. So that's what confirmed my worst guess.

Max was hurt badly, and she probably didn't have that much time left.

I snuck a look at Marian. She looked like she aged about 50 years older. She was visibly weakening by the second, and Jeffrey didn't look any better. I scanned the second story for a spare room or even a freaking cage **(How many times have I made irony notes? Teehee) **so we can at least rest.

"Jeff, Marian!" I shouted running up the stairs.

I hopped that somewhere in their brains they understood what was going on.

Relief flooded through me when I found a small door on the far right of the hall, and I felt a bit better hearing the two behind me. I whirled into the room and as soon as the two of them pounced in, I slammed the door and locked it.

"I don't think a lock will do much," Marian gasped.

" It'll have to do for now," I said leaning against the door.

My body was aching everywhere, and my mind was racing with worry. Where the hell was Max and why did I get the feeling that she was half dead?

"Where did you learn to fight like that?" Jeffrey panted looking at me.

"Jeb," I said catching my breath.

The door was being pounded on, and it would soon give way. I searched the room desperately for something we could use. I nearly cried out loud of joy when I saw it.

A window.

Gazzy's POV-

After Max threw me out of the window, I gripped tightly onto the rope. I shouted in pain as my palms flared up in heat. Stupid rope burn.

When I finally dropped to the floor, (none to gracefully) the others swarmed around me, checking my injuries. But I wasn't paying attention to them; I was looking guilty up at the window where Max was.

Max saved me, but now she must be paying the ultimate price. And it's all my fault.

"Gazzy? Gazzy!" Fang shouted for the third time.

I looked up at Fang with a blank expression, and his eyes pleaded me to tell him where Max was.

"She saved me," was all I could say.

* * *

><p><strong>What shall become of our dear Max? <strong>

**Stick around to find out!**

**Gosh now I sound like those stupid ads on your computer that pop up when your trying to watch youtube videos.**

**Ugh, so annoying.**

**Anyways,**

**R&R please!**

**-Shift**


	24. Fight The Power!

**Shout outs: Wingz-and-a-Fiz, Jade Empress, HeAt-StRoKe, Coniglio13, Petemidniight13, A Guy Named George, LivieLi, WaterfallOfJoy, WORMoverBOOK, Keggy and Heggy, murphymypup, pure-dark-winged-angel, Hunter-girl14, Sa La H, Sierra156 and Beeni**

**WORMoverBOOK: haha okay thanks. And don't worry, I won't kill Max. Fang...maybe. lol jk jk.**

**Wingz-and-a-fez: lmao. Change is good :P**

**Hunter-girl14: Sure thing, and thanks for the reviews :)**

**Sierra156: Thanks a bunch :D But I really do like 'Scars' I think it's my favorite story out of all the others that you've done. **

**ENJOY GUYS :)**

* * *

><p><span>Max's POV<span>

My body was broken.

I've lost so much blood, and yet no matter how much I _want _to give up and lie down for dead, something in my won't allow it.

I gazed down at my hands that were still red and pink from the rope burns and also new cuts along my palm. My forearms were designed with smears of blood, and raw lines of the blade that Jeb raked down on my arm repeatedly.

My wound was now pouring blood. Not literally, but with every step I took, a new river started flowing down. I think I have dislocated my shoulder and my ankle, making it extremely hard to walk or even crawl anywhere.

Jeb was enjoying this, just like I thought he would. With every cut, punch and kick he gave me, his grin widened.

I tried to sit up, but my muscles weren't listening to me anymore. They were exhausted and tired. Jeb stood over me, tall and dark.

I gurgled the blood out that was piling in from my mouth, and my eyes widened at the amount I spit up.

_Get up. Get up!_

My hands agonizingly scraped across the floor as I placed them near my shoulders, and with as much strength as I could muster, pulled myself into a sitting position. Jeb laughed at me, and kicked the side of my stomach.

I shouted in agony and rolled out of his reach, behind some chairs. My breathing came in deep labored breaths, and my eye sight was getting fuzzy and unclear.

_Get up Max. Get up!_

I groaned and clutched my rumbling stomach.

Is it possible to get hungry when you're in the face of death?

…the answer is yes.

Mei's POV-

I hit the gravel floor outside of the warehouse silently. Jeffrey and Marian hesitated at the height **(remember they're at the 2****nd**** story of the warehouse) **but jumped out of after me. We ran around the corner, and were stunned to see the rest of the Walkers and Jansens.

But still no sign of Stephen, which is really making me nervous.

And then there was no Max, but I could hear her cries of pain and so could the rest of us.

Fang's ice cold glare was locked up at the 2nd story, and Gazzy was staring blankly at a piece of rope around his feet. Iggy was pale faced and held to Ella tightly as silent tears streaked down her chest. Nudge limped over on her crutches and hugged Marian and Jeffrey tightly.

Annd sprinted over to her husband with Angel tucked in her arms and they all rocked back and forth as Jeffrey hugged them tightly.

I walked over to Fang and nudged his shoulder.

"Where is she?" I asked quietly.

I knew the answer, but I couldn't help but ask.

"She's…stuck up there." He whispered.

I looked up at the window pane, which was now covered in blood and it dripped down into my palm. I choked and furiously wiped my eyes clear of tears.

Oh man Max…what do I do?

Max always called the shots for us, that's why I was so lost at what to do. Max was a true leader, thinking with her head and leading with her heart. But now that she wasn't here at the moment, everyone turned to me for directions.

What would Max do?

Ha, I know what Max would do. She would send the others away for a place to hide while she went back in for me. She would save me even if it cost her, her life.

But what would Max want _me _to do?

She would want me to get the others out of here and just leave her.

The others looked at me expectantly, but I already knew what I had to do, and we were losing time. Those guards will soon figure out that we've left through the window and we don't have a lot of time to run with Nudge and Ella.

Then a heart shattering scream pierced through the silent night, and my heart crawled up into my throat. I choked down tears and slapped my hand over my mouth. That scream was Max.

Fang punched the wall in front of him, and it left cracks and a hole the size of his fist. I scrunched my eyebrows together and watched as he clenched his raw bleeding fist against his chest.

I turned to the others and looked directly at Marian.

The truth was, that Marian reminded me so much of Max. They were both stubborn, hardheaded, yet caring for their family.

"We have to leave, now."

Max's POV-

Kick, slap, punch, pull, slice, punch.

Over and over and over, that was the pattern that Jeb used to destroy me.

But I couldn't take it when he plunged that knife into my chest.

Unfortunately, I wasn't as smart as Mei, and I wasn't wearing a vest.

I blacked out.

_There are only two times in your entire life where you don't feel pain._

_In your dreams, and when you're dead._

_So I pretty much assumed that I was dead once I opened my eyes, and found myself back in China. _

"_Max!" a voice called out._

_I whirled around from my tent and looked straight at my friend Juan Lan. I smiled and waved at her and she skipped over to me._

"_Zuìdà, lái ba! Lái gēn w__ǒ__ wán!" she shrieked smiling at me. _Max, come play with me!

_I laughed at her and placed a hand on her shoulders. "Lěngjìng xiàlái, w__ǒ__ huì huílái jīn w__ǎ__n de fāhuī. W__ǒ__ y__ǔ__ fùqīn qù huòdé zuìhòu de ingrediants duì m__ǔ__qīn de cài." _Calm down, I'll be back later on tonight. I have to go with father to get the last herb for mother's dish.

"_Ok!" she said laughing._

_I laughed at Juan as she picked up Mei Na from her tent and raced around the village. Father came out from the tent with a basket and grabbed my hand in his as we walking towards the fields. _

"_What kind of herbs are we getting papa?" I asked him while squatting next to him._

"_I'm not sure what they're called, but mother gave me this picture, look at it," he said handing me a paper._

_When I memorized it, I handed the picture back to father and quickly started searching the bushes for a similar plant. _

_Time passed and I was having fun with father. He taught me that some of the plants were used for edible purposes while others were used for medical purposes. When we realized that it was early evening, father took my hand and led us back to the village._

_I was humming a lullaby I overheard mama sing to Ari one night, when father stopped short. I looked at him wondering what was wrong._

"_Papa?" I asked._

_Father just kept staring ahead, his face white and full of terror. I knitted my eyebrows and looked forward. _

_The village….everything was on fire. The tents, the trees, everything. Father raced forward and I tried to keep up with his fast pace. When we got to our tent, mother and Ari were both lying on their backs, bruised and skin burned to a crisp. Father sunk to his knees and started sobbing, while I choked on my tears and turned to run to Juan Lan's tent._

"_Max!" a voice shouted._

_I froze and looked down at mother's body where the voice came from. Her eyes were open, and she was looking at me. My eyes widened, and I looked to father, but he was still weeping and clutching mother's body._

_He couldn't see her like I saw her._

"_Mom?" I squeaked._

"_You have to fight him honey," she said looking at me with pleading eyes._

"_Wha- what are you talking about mother?" I said kneeling beside father._

"_You're father. He needs help. You have to fight him. Be strong. For me and Ari. And for your father." She said._

"_Mother please! I'm so confused!" I cried tucking my head into her neck._

"_Just remember this. Your father will always be your father. Be strong Max,"_

_Be strong. Be strong. Be strong…._

My eyes snapped open, and I sprang up into a standing position, glaring down at father. His grin slipped off his face, and his dark eyes widened as he saw my standing figure.

"How are you-"

"Mother called." I snarled. "She told me to kick your ass,"

I leaped at father with my hands curled into claws, and I raked a bloody finger down his face and stabbed his eyes. His scream of agony matched all the ones I earlier voiced. I grit my teeth and pushed my fingers into his eyes farther, until I was certain he would never use them again.

I kicked off his abdomen and sprang backwards against the chairs. I looked up at Jeb, and my eyes widened at the damage I had caused. He was clawing at his cheeks, hoping that something would distract him from the fact that his eyes….

Were nothing but empty sockets.

He couldn't see me.

I didn't hesitate as I grabbed the gun off the floor, and fired it into his heart.

13 bullets.

It seemed like Jeb would be put out of his missery sooner than I planned.

Talk about lucky.

* * *

><p><strong>*snort* lucky 13 bullets.<strong>

**And now, I have an important announcement to make.**

**...**

**...**

**..**

**..**

**..**

**...**

**...**

**...**

**...**

**I like pie.**

**TEEHEE!**

**-Shift**


	25. We Made It

**Shout outs: Wingz-and-a-Fiz, Jade Empress, HeAt-StRoKe, Coniglio13, Petemidniight13, A Guy Named George, LivieLi, WaterfallOfJoy, WORMoverBOOK, Keggy and Heggy, murphymypup, pure-dark-winged-angel, Hunter-girl14, Sa La H, Sierra156 and Beeni**

**Sierra156: Trying to out word me huh? I dont think so! I ADORE PIE! HA!**

**Wingz-and-a-Fez: I love all sorts of pie. Banana, Cinnamon, Apple etc. hey, I wonder if they've ever made an orange pie...hmm...lol, BTW I think you're gonna like the next chapter. FAX! :D**

**WORMoverBOOK: Really? Thats so cool! Especially since its in the summer! Where do you live? ... OMG you dont have to answer that, I just sounded like a huge creep XD and for writers block, one of things I love to do for those is listening to music, watching some T.V for inspiration, or hell just take a nap. lol, my methods are weird, but you should try writing one shots. They sort of help clear your mind when you're thinking about something.**

**TO ALL: Thank you all so much for reviewing, favoriting, reading and encouraging! This is the last chapter of Lucky Number 13, and the next two will just be epilogues. **

**I couldn't have done it without all the encouraging reviews, advice, and words of kindness that you've all given me. So thank you from the bottom of my heart for that.**

**And now, please enjoy the last enstallment, of Lucky Number 13.**

* * *

><p><span>Max's POV-<span>

Father lay motionless, slumped against a pile of chairs.

But my mind was whirling with confusion. What was this _change _he was talking about? Why did he sound so…different from old father? What had he done to himself?

My heart swelled at the scene, but I couldn't waste any more time, I jumped out of the window, landing on the floor. Pain erupted from my ankle, but I got up and ran anyway.

Pain, pain, pain. That's all that was going through my mind.

I rounded the corner of the building, when I heard it.

Police sirens.

Well they're about an hour late, but I'll take any help I can get.

I dove behind a shrub and began crawling around the perimeter of the warehouse.

I whispered silent pleas that Mei got the others out safely.

"_Well done Max" _my mother's voice said in my head.

I smiled and pushed off the ground, making a sprint for the back fence. I crawled under the barbwire and looked to the left.

There was train track leading from far off the distance, and by the looks of the lights, it was coming closer. I quickly crossed the tracks and continued down the road, by another warehouse, I think it was one built for flower pots.

I kicked open the back door and winced as it made a lot of noise tumbling down. I scanned the room quickly before stepping in. There were shelves after shelves of various pots. Small, large, wide, narrow and thin. I kept limping towards the last row of pots and I collapsed down loudly, making the shelves near me rattle.

I was pushing my shirt against my chest, trying to stop the bleeding, but it wouldn't stop. I was losing consciousness from blood loss and hunger, and I tried to fight it as long as possible.

A crash from the distance made me snap my closing eye lids open, and slide into a sitting position. I didn't have any weapons left with me, so I grabbed the nearest pot near me, which was small and rectangular.

I cocked it behind my head and waited for another sound, then a blur flashed in front of me, and before I could do anything, the familiar feel of a gun was pressed into the back of my skull. I swore silently, but then the pressure was released off of my head.

"Max?" A voice whispered silently.

I whirled around to face…

"Mei…" I whispered.

Mei's POV- (A few minutes back)

Everyone looked at me like I was crazy, and I sighed.

"She would want us to," I said.

"That doesn't mean we should!" Fang snarled.

"Fang, don't let your emotions rule your head. Think clearly. Max worked hard to get us where we are, let's not let her efforts get to waste," I sighed.

The teens began to protest, and I was a little happy yet frustrated at the same time.

I was happy for the obvious reason. They actually cared enough to go back and fight for Max.

But I was also frustrated for another obvious reason. Why the hell were they not listening to logic?

"Guys, Mei is right," Marian said.

"Mom-"

"No buts. Let's go. Mei, lead the way," Marian said.

I looked at her hesitantly. Stephen was still gone, and yet it looked like she had forgotten all about it. I sighed and motioned for them to follow me around the perimeter of the fence, and pushed each of them roughly under the barb wire.

Nudge and Ella protested but I just shot them a glare and they hurried along. Fang and Gazzy were still standing by the window, gazing up at where Max was.

With one last painful glance, Fang jogged after them. Gazzy just picked up the rope from the floor, crushed it to his chest, and raced after Fang.

"Please make it out Max," I whispered looking up at the window.

I hurried along after them and lead them into a pot warehouse.

Max's POV-

"Max," She choked out again.

I nodded slowly and she barreled right into me, knocking us both backwards. I hissed in pain from the scars on my back, and she released me quickly.

"Sorry," she said sniffling.

I blinked at her tears for a second, completely stunned.

"Were….were you crying?" I hissed.

She shot me a glare and raised her hand to smack me, but one look at my broken body made her drop her hand. I smirked at her and her glare grew.

"You're such an idiot. OF course I would cry stupid! Why wouldn't I? You're so stupid! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!" she cried into my shirt.

I winced in pain. The emotional and the physical kind. Mei…she cried for me? Plus…she's also crying into the part where I got stabbed a few minutes ago.

"Shh…it's okay. I'm here now," I whispered into her hair.

"Mei? Where are you? Are you-"

Jeffrey rounded the corner and blinked at me. Then his expression lit up into a huge grin and he ran over.

"MAX!" he shouted squeezing me.

"Can't- breath!" I gasped.

He chuckled and let me go. I heard running footsteps from around and looked at the other side of rack to find Gazzy and Fang panting. Fang's usually expressionless face lit up into a gigantic smile and my heart slammed into my chest faster. Gazzy of course was trying to choke back his tears, but he did a horrible job.

They both ran over to me and crushed me between them. Again, I winced in pain but held to them tight.

"You- saved- me!" Gazzy choked.

I just shushed him, and patted his head. Fang didn't say anything. He just held me to him close like I was about to disappear from him at any second.

Dots clouded my vision, and my head swayed to the right.

"Guys-" Mei started

But I already blacked out.

* * *

><p><strong>Doesn't make much sense I know, but just read the epilogues. <strong>

**Okay, now that story is out of the way, I just want to say a few things.**

**Thank you all so much again for the reviews and advice. This was my first fanfiction EVER and its now completed thanks to the motivation that you've all given me.**

**The sequal is being writen at this very moment, and I can promise you there will be some major drama, ass kicking, and sadley, character death.**

**(Don't worry, it won't be any one good that dies, promise)**

**But thank you so much, keep a look out for the sequal and enjoy the epilogues.**

**-Shift**


	26. Epilogue

**Three years, 21 days, 13 hours 12 minutes and 43.2 seconds later,**

"Max come on wake up!"

I groaned and swatted away the hand that tried to take my pillow.

"Come on Angel is about to leave!" the voice said again.

I sighed and sat up from my bed. I looked at Mei, with a pissed off look. She giggled and ran out of the room, with Akila, our dog following her.

I yawned and stretched my hands over my head, while standing and walking over to the bathroom. Looking the mirror, I winced as one of my newer scars started aching.

Fang was gonna be pissed.

You see, three years ago after our big brawl, Fang and the others had refused to let Mei and I leave the country like we were originally planning, so we stayed and got an apartment together in the country side of New York.

Mei went back to school to get her doctorate in Chemistry and she teaches organic engineering at a local collage. Yeah, even though she's only 21, she skipped 3 years in collage because she was so smart and graduated early. **(Can you really skip grades in collage? Oh well, for the sake of the story, lets just pretend that you can)**

I got a job as a martial arts instructor, and Fang didn't like that. He became fiercely protective of me ever since that night, and although he does give me my space at times, he disagrees with my career choice.

But I'm Maximum Ride. Since when did I let boys control my life?

Iggy, Ella, Nudge and Fang all graduated, and are all now in collage. Ella and Iggy are still going strong, and as a matter of fact, Iggy popped the question to Ella a few months ago. The two are both happily engaged but they're both waiting until they graduate collage for the actual wedding.

Iggy is taking Mei's collage class. Something he regrets now that Mei picks on him in class for obvious reasons.

Nudge got herself a boyfriend name Drew, and honestly, I don't like the kid at all. He's got a creepy dark vibe radiating off of him, but its like the others don't seem to notice.

Gazzy is still in school, but he's been visiting me every day at work for lessons, and also just to chill out. Angel was now three, about to turn four, and she was on her way to preschool at this very moment, which is why Mei woke me up.

Oh yeah, remember the other friends we made? JJ, Grace, Sam and Lissa? Yeah, they still hang around too. JJ drops in every now and then, but she's been touring the world with her band lately. Sam's been working downtown at a local coffee shop and part time student. Grace and Lissa? The two witches? Well…let's just say that since both their daddies died and took all their cash with them, the two are now pathetic hobos living in police custody.

Running a brush through my hair, I began humming the lullaby mother used to sing to us at night. It didn't hurt to talk about her anymore like it used to. It felt a little bit out of place knowing that she's here, but I know that she's now longer suffering.

Anne and Jeffrey were still going strong, after Jeffrey explained our complicated past to his family and Marian's, all was forgiven and forgotten.

Something I was eternally grateful for.

Stephen was still missing. Mei and I tried out best using our previous knowledge to track him down, but nothing has come up so far. Marian hasn't been herself since then, but she grins and bears it for the sake of her children.

She still hasn't told them that Stephen isn't their real father, but I decided to let Marian deal with what she tells her kids.

There was no word of father, and eventually when the cops found no witnesses that were related to the fight three years go, they closed the case with no further questions, so I didn't know if father was really dead or not, or what happened to his personal army.

But he had to be. He was dead when I left, and he had to be dead now, right?

Shaking my head clear, I slid on a track jacket and left the room. I placed down a bowl of dog food for Akila before taking the elevator to the main lobby where Mei, Angel and Fang were waiting for me.

"An' 'ax!" Angel shouted racing over.

I chuckled and picked her up in my arms and swung her around.

"Are you ready for your first day of preschool?" I whispered into her ear.

She giggled and nodded her reply. I blew on her cheek and she continued giggling. I walked over to Fang and he planted a kiss on my cheek, but he frowned when he saw the scar.

"Max-"

"We'll talk about it later. Just take Angel to school safely alright?" I asked.

He sighed and crossed his arms over his broad chest.

"Fine. But don't think the matter is dropped," he said.

"Wouldn't even dare, babe," I said kissing his nose.

Angel and Mei simultaneously giggled and I rolled my eyes.

"Have a good day sweetie!" I said as they turned for the door.

"'ye!" she shouted after us.

"I'll stop by after class," Fang said over his shoulder.

" Kay!" I shouted after him.

Fang swept his little sister up in his arms and buckled her in the backseat of his jaguar. He waved once more to Mei and I before stepping into his car and driving off.

I turned to Mei and pushed her shoulder lightly.

She rolled her eyes and walked back to the elevator. I followed her, humming a tune from the radio.

"what are you gonna do today?" I asked her.

"I have a class with Iggy," she said giggling.

I laughed and punched in our floor number.

"When are you gonna stop torturing the poor kid in class?" I asked.

"When he learns not to sneak smoke bombs into his teachers car!" she said.

"Woah, he snuck a bomb into your truck?" I asked.

She nodded worriedly and put a hand over her heart.

"Poor Ruby," (yes, I know. She named her car. And they say _I _need help) "she stunk for a whole week before I could get the stench out!"

I just laughed and got off the elevator.

"What about you? Got any lessons planned?" she asked.

"Not till after Gasman's school finished. I'm picking him up then heading over to the gym," I said yawning.

"Well I gotta go," she said picking up her brief case. "See ya tonight!" she said walking back out.

"Later!" I called.

I crashed down on the couch and turned on the T.V. Akile curled up with me on the couch and we just watched a marathon of Mob Wives.

"Who do you think is gonna win? Drita or Carla?" I asked motioning towards the cat fight.

"RUFF!" she barked.

"Yeah. I think Drita too," I said laughing.

Life was good.


	27. The Other Epilogue

Unknown POV-

"Are you sure?" the large man asked.

"Positive sir," the teenage boy said.

"Good. And the little girl has left for preschool already?" the man asked the boy.

"Yes sir. They left approximately three hours ago from Maximum Ride's apartment," the boy said.

"Good. Dismissed," the man said.

The teenage boy with chest nut hair and hazel eyes left the big man in the technology room and walked to his room.

The man watched the screen as Maximum Ride drove to pick up Gazzy Jansen from Newberry High school. She looked happy and joyful as she treated the young boy to a cup of coffee and sweets. Jokes and insults were passed around until they finally got to Max's job, the dojo.

Gazzy headed to the side while Max bowed in and went to change her clothes. Gazzy pulled out his homework and began his algebra.

The man cocked his head as he watched Max strip down and change into her gi.

(**Ew, I just realized how pedophile/stalker/creepy that sounded. Ugh!)**

His revenge would soon be granted. He would soon get rid of Maximum Ride once and for all. The man hated Maximum Ride for all the trouble she's caused him; she was getting in this way.

And she was going to pay.

* * *

><p><strong>Look out for the sequal guys ;)<strong>


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